A sharp-edged novella that delivers its story at the pace of a highlight reel.
Browning presents a novella about a former party girl whose unlikely connection with a gentle beast jolts her out of a self-destructive spiral.
Tabitha Eggs is an alcoholic, Napa Valley, California-based trust-funder who’s been exiled from her privileged world because of her immaturity, compared to others in her friend group. She goes on a retreat into the redwood forests of Del Norte County, where she plans to drink and smoke herself into oblivion. However, her path of self-destruction meets an obstacle when she discovers two dead bodies, whom she suspects are the previous owners of her new property. In the wake of this discovery comes a series of Bigfoot hunters, searching for the alleged beastly killer in the woods around her new home; they’re accompanied by protesters who want the Bigfoot hunting to stop. Tabitha confronts her real estate agent, Annie, who seems to know more than she’s letting on about the situation. Her suspicions are confirmed when she comes face-to-face with a kind sasquatch who saves her from a wildfire. Thus begins a strange love story that revels in its offbeat tone, playing familiar romance tropes completely straight while cutting through exposition like an impatient reader skipping to the good parts. The prose moves briskly, with snappy characters and a refusal to dwell on the granular logistics of the novel’s premise. Indeed, it’s less about worldbuilding and more about the emotional transformation, although Tabitha’s change of heart feels too fast to land with full impact, jumping from nihilism to purpose without much introspection. Likewise, the romance with her sasquatch savior exists more as a concept than as a developed relationship; readers will wish for more from their connection—more buildup, more tension, more resonance, more space to see it grow. That said, the novel delivers the quirky, unhinged entertainment it promises, and the protagonist’s voice is distinct and memorable. Overall, it’s a wild ride that’s as compelling as it is unorthodox.
A sharp-edged novella that delivers its story at the pace of a highlight reel.Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2023
ISBN: 9798988869917
Page Count: 162
Publisher: Sonoma Mediaworks
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PERSPECTIVES
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 debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.
A high school senior pursues an affair with her teacher.
Seventeen-year-old Waldo, the narrator of McCurdy’s fiction debut, lives in Anchorage, Alaska, with her mother, though she’s long been the parent in their relationship. She heats her own frozen meals and pays the bills on time while her mom chases man after man and makes well-meaning promises she never keeps. Waldo blows her Victoria’s Secret wages on online shopping sprees and binges on junk food, inevitably crashing after the fleeting highs of her indulgences. Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher, has “thinning hair and nose pores”; he’s 40 years old and married with a child. Nevertheless—or possibly as a result?—Waldo’s attraction to him is “instant. So sudden it’s alarming. So palpable it’s confusing.” Mr. Korgy professes to want to keep their friendship aboveboard, but after a sexual encounter at the school’s winter formal that she initiates, an affair begins. Will this reckless pursuit be the one that actually satisfies Waldo, and is she as mature as she thinks she is? Waldo is a keen observer of people and provides sharp commentary on the punishing work of female beauty. Readers of McCurdy’s bestselling memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died (2022), will surely be curious about the tumultuous mother-daughter relationship, and it is one of the novel’s highlights, full of realistic pity and anger and need. (“I want to scream at her. I want her to hug me.”) Unfortunately, the prose is often unwieldy and sometimes downright cringeworthy: When Waldo tells Mr. Korgy she loves him, “The words hang in the air in that constipated way they do when you know that you shouldn’t have said them.” Waldo frequently lists emotions and adjectives in triplicate, and events that could be significant aren’t sufficiently explored or given enough space to breathe before the novel races on to the next thing.
A debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780593723739
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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