A mesmerizing novel, moving and intelligent.
A German teenager discovers his Jewish ancestry in 1933 just following Hitler’s ascendancy to power.
Hans Meyer is a 15-year-old in Berlin, the only child of a prosperous family. All around him he sees the increasingly violent rise of Nazi ideology—swastikas become prolific, books of allegedly un-German literature are burned, and the headmaster of his school, Herr Wullen, is arrested for neglecting to adequately adhere to the party line, while his teacher, Herr Wendell, is a Nazi fanatic who works his hateful ideology into every lesson. Hans’ instinct, at first, is to dismiss all this angry illiberalism as fleeting and assume that most will come to their senses and recognize the ritualistic humiliation of the Jewish population as “pointless exercises engineered out of prehistoric tribal biases that had no place in modern life.” But then the political turbulence invades his own life—he learns that his maternal grandparents were Jewish and converted to Christianity long ago. Once word is out, his mother, Anne, loses her job at a music conservatory. Also, he falls in love with classmate Rebecca Deichmann, who is openly Jewish, and is mercilessly bullied as a result. With impressive subtlety, Glants chronicles the moral darkening of German society as Hitler asserts his despotic grip over it and the grotesque choices this foisted upon so many. Hans is a memorable protagonist—wise and empathetic beyond his years but also, like any adolescent, afraid to swim against the current of peer pressure. His love for Rebecca is poignantly depicted by the author: “I was afraid to look at her lest my feelings overwhelm me. She was not classically beautiful, but her energy, her movements, and her daring words choked me whenever she was near.” However, the path of least resistance is depicted with great sensitivity and power, a vivid tableau from which this gripping novel draws much of its allure.
A mesmerizing novel, moving and intelligent.Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 979-8-9865985-1-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Anchor Media
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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