A queer, eerie debut.
A young woman tries to survive supernatural happenings at her boarding school.
Something wicked this way comes in Curran’s Sapphic gothic debut. Set at Briarley School for Girls in 1928, the novel follows strong-minded Emily Locke as she navigates a school year she will never forget. Near the start of term, Violet Kirsch, the “golden girl” of their class, dies unexpectedly on her 18th birthday. Emily and her nemesis, Evelyn Hart, whose lives revolved around Violet, are shattered by her death. Violet’s death seems to set off—or perhaps unearths—something evil onto the school. Spoiled food, sludgy water, unexplained illness, and strange behavior begin to plague the ladies of Briarley. As the bodies pile up, the girls turn reluctantly to spiritualism as a way to solve the deadly mystery. While other students leave, Emily and her remaining classmates close in to protect each other and their home: “I’d grown accustomed to the six of us existing as a unit, and I couldn’t bear the thought of it being broken apart.” With Evelyn as their chosen but discontented medium, the girls reach into the beyond—and are devastated by what they find. As Emily and Evelyn step toward the unsaid truth at the center of their relationship with Violet, they begin to see their late friend—and each other—more clearly than ever. Queerness weaves through the novel like an inversion of the rot spreading through the school. Though the book is steeped in the realities of the time period, Curran wonderfully shows how the girl’s burgeoning sexuality and relationships provide them with a complicated refuge from the dangers within and beyond Briarley. The use of foreshadowing effectively builds tension and dread—but the novel also hits similar beats over and over, which affects the pacing. Regardless, the novel’s true strength is exploring the complex relationships among the girls—both living and dead—and the unknowns of the world.
A queer, eerie debut.Pub Date: March 10, 2026
ISBN: 9780385551595
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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