An engrossing novel that features a memorably strong, vibrant female character.
Sjoholm’s historical saga introduces readers to the ever-adventurous writer Dagny Bergland and her personal odysseys at sea and elsewhere.
At 18, the author’s protagonist, Dagny, marries the much older sea captain Edvard Bergland, and they sail around the world. They end up unofficially adopting young orphan Kjell Fossen in Lima, Peru, before fetching up in Port Townsend, Washington, after Edvard’s ship burns at anchor in San Francisco. Edvard, still almost always at sea, dies while ferrying prospectors to Alaska. Meanwhile, the U.S. government hatches a plan to entice the Sámi, renowned reindeer herders from the far north of Norway, to deliver 500 reindeer to eventually serve as food for starving gold miners. What the book eventually depicts is the tragic, wide-scale disruption of cultures against the backdrop of the 1898 gold rush. The character of Dagny is a writer, and she composes sketches to send to Norway, where folks are eager to learn of how their compatriots are faring in this new world. Dagny “adopts” the infant daughter of a dead Sámi woman whom she’d befriended and falls in love with a Sámi man much her junior. Eventually readers are led to believe that Dagny longs to return to Bergen—but does she? And then there’s the issue of the Sámi, whom the dominant Norwegians treated much the way those in the U.S. treated the Native Americans, destroying their culture and forcing their children into boarding schools. Sjoholm is an experienced writer and gifted storyteller, eloquent on the subject of Sámi prejudice and the poignant dilemma for all immigrants: Make a life for yourself in this new world, or surrender to the emotional pull of the old country? In that sense, the book tells a fascinating story of homesickness and prejudice. And while Dagny has her own demons (“Who does the past belong to and how do you mend the errors that you’ve made?”), she ends up being not just a survivor, but a humane model for all of us.
An engrossing novel that features a memorably strong, vibrant female character.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2025
ISBN: 9798991120609
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Cedar Street Editions
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.
A French art historian’s English-language fiction debut combines the story of a loving relationship between a grandfather and granddaughter with an enlightening discussion of art.
One day, when 10-year-old Mona removes the necklace given to her by her now-dead grandmother, she experiences a frightening, hour-long bout of blindness. Her parents take her to the doctor, who gives her a variety of tests and also advises that she see a psychiatrist. Her grandfather Henry tells her parents that he will take care of that assignment, but instead, he takes Mona on weekly visits to either the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Centre Pompidou, where each week they study a single work of art, gazing at it deeply and then discussing its impact and history and the biography of its maker. For the reader’s benefit, Schlesser also describes each of the works in scrupulous detail. As the year goes on, Mona faces the usual challenges of elementary school life and the experiences of being an only child, and slowly begins to understand the causes of her temporary blindness. Primarily an amble through a few dozen of Schlesser’s favorite works of art—some well known and others less so, from Botticelli and da Vinci through Basquiat and Bourgeois—the novel would probably benefit from being read at a leisurely pace. While the dialogue between Henry and the preternaturally patient and precocious Mona sometimes strains credulity, readers who don’t have easy access to the museums of Paris may enjoy this vicarious trip in the company of a guide who focuses equally on that which can be seen and the context that can’t be. Come for the novel, stay for the introductory art history course.
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798889661115
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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
SEEN & HEARD
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