Kraus’ relentless curiosity is a gravitational force.
The latest work of autofiction by an iconic Los Angeles writer.
Kraus’ first novel in more than a decade meditates on her childhood in 1960s Connecticut and her middle age in LA and northern Minnesota, pinning down, in their contrasts and humming throughlines, “trace elements of a lost Americana.” Kraus records her days at these distinct points in her life, occasionally assuming the points-of-view of those close to her and, in the final portion, strangers. In the first section, “Milford,” Jasper and Emma Greene and their daughters, Catt and Carla, move from the Bronx to Milford, Connecticut, where Emma struggles to connect with her new community and parent Carla, who has a developmental disability, and Jasper works long hours and cultivates Catt’s literary sensibilities. The lens eventually shifts to Catt, the protagonist, as she tumbles into an adolescence of truancy, hitchhiking, and huffing office supplies. “Balsam” picks up four decades later, in Minnesota’s Iron Range. Catt is a well-regarded writer, living in Los Angeles. After a few summers spent in Minnesota, writing and escaping the claustrophobia of the art world, Catt and her partner, Paul Garcia, buy a cottage on a lake in Balsam to live in part-time. The Trump years bring personal as well as political turmoil, as Catt and Paul face issues in their marriage and Catt confronts a wave of media attention from a new generation when her cult-classic first novel is adapted for TV. Then, in 2019, a shocking, meth-fueled murder near the cottage reels Catt into obsession with the four young people involved. “Harding” alternates between Catt’s life as she reaches for answers to this senseless crime and a fictionalized account of the events leading up to the real-life murder, based on Kraus’ research and interviews with those close to the case. Kraus’ deftness in planting events and swirls of thought in their respective places and times, revealing the rhythms of life with a subtle hand, transforms a series of anecdotes and a true-crime fixation into a stirring narrative of class, addiction, and the question of forgiveness in a cultural landscape increasingly hostile toward empathy and nuance.
Kraus’ relentless curiosity is a gravitational force.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781668098684
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: June 6, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
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
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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