Eloquent tales that skillfully tap into a deep well of ideas.
This debut collection of fairy tales tells lyrical stories of loss and grief transformed through the power of compassion.
In the title story, a princess must sing so a man will fall in love with her, but she realizes that she can’t. Fearing she has no heart and will never know love, she leaves home. On her journey, the Frog King, the Snake Queen, and the Wolf King teach her to sing by croaking, hissing, and howling. She meets a singing young man who reassures her that “there is nothing wrong with you. You are perfect as you are,” but she doesn’t believe him. A cruel wizard bars her path because it’s prophesied that “a princess with four voices will destroy me and free the prince whom I have been holding prisoner.” Nevertheless, two birds teach her the fourth voice: shrill and shrieking bird song. Before surrendering the prince, the wizard poses four riddles to the princess. The answers reveal the wizard’s past, how he became evil, why he enjoys being wicked, and his path toward redemption. In “The Yellow Bird,” a boy follows and then becomes one with a small yellow bird, forgetting his human self. He helps a king mourning his son to discover the purpose of life, which is “to love and comfort others on their journeys.” In “The Woodcutter’s Daughter,” an older mother rabbit gives a young woman the power to hear her angry, brutish father’s true yearning for love. But the woman can’t save him, so she journeys to offer her love to the wider world. She’s given the task of filling a lake with healing water, which gives new life to many. Her father’s heart, too, is freed. In another tale, a childless older fisherman catches “The Joyfish,” which gladly allows itself to be eaten. The man and his wife are taken to an undersea kingdom where they are magically renewed.
In her book, Cardamon achieves an authentic and pleasing fairy-tale cadence, as in the opening line of the title story: “Once upon a time, when wishing still mattered, a princess lived in a land neither here nor there.” Elements such as the quest motif, animal helpers, and special tasks and characters like the princess and the woodcutter also give the tales a solid grounding in tradition. More contemporary are the stories’ themes of discovering redemption and purpose through love for everyone, even villains like the wizard and the woodcutter; there’s no typical fairy-tale revenge ending. This could seem unfitting, but the author makes it work by staying true to the worlds of the stories and the symbolic imagery. The woodcutter, for example, dies (in one sense) beneath a beautiful magic tree that grew from the buried eyes, tongue, and heart of the mother rabbit, who sacrificed herself to save the man’s daughter. But in another sense, he is asleep, dreaming of finding peace. Although the well-written collection has lessons to teach, they aren’t didactic among so much magic. While “The Princess Who Sang Like a Frog” meanders somewhat, the other offerings are more focused.
Eloquent tales that skillfully tap into a deep well of ideas.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-0-578-96548-2
Page Count: 222
Publisher: Sublimatio Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2021
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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