A smart novel that carefully considers the shifting sands of life.
A negative review and a heedless one-night stand lead to the cancellation of a respected newspaper critic.
After dashing off a damning takedown of a one-woman show at the Edinburgh Fringe—part of the annual summer arts festival—attractive, promiscuous Alex Lyons thinks nothing of spending the night with the selfsame woman performer, Hayley Sinclair. The next morning, Hayley reads the review, realizes she’s slept with its author, and sets off down a path of revenge. Renaming her performance The Alex Lyons Experience, she tells her tale of outrage and invites others to contribute. The result is a hit show and a tsunami of attention that goes viral, branding Alex as “the poster boy for indiscriminate sexual trawling. The man with no moral compass.” Runcie’s up-to-date debut cleverly—and comically—spans the gender issues exposed here while also widening the lens to include other topics. Sophie Rigden, a junior colleague of Alex’s, is working and living alongside him in the newspaper’s Edinburgh rental apartment, becoming his witness and audience (and the book's narrator). Sophie is both a critic and an obituary writer, as well as the breadwinner in her relationship with Josh, an academic, and Arlo, their 14-month-old child. Her background is very different from Alex’s, he being the son of a “national treasure,” the actress Dame Judith Lyons. Nepotism, misogyny, motherhood, culture, criticism, love, and death all come under the spotlight as Alex’s career sinks and Sophie’s rises while their relationship shifts into perilous territory. The clarity of Runcie's narration and her ability to consider both sides of an argument render the deeper issues digestible while, on the surface, the partying, drinking, distinctive characters and their predicaments keep the wheels spinning. It all makes for an unusual, thought-provoking, multilayered read that book groups will enjoy debating.
A smart novel that carefully considers the shifting sands of life.Pub Date: July 8, 2025
ISBN: 9780385551076
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2025
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 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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