A brisk, humorous story of a middle-aged couple in an unmoored marriage, stumbling toward safe harbor.
A long-term relationship gone stale, a summer of searching, celebrity cameos, and a comic sensibility.
Claire, a 51-year-old massage therapist and energy healer, is fed up with husband Wally’s immaturity. “Scratch the surface of any man and you’ll find a boy,” notes her good friend Roz. Fifty-five-year-old Wally has unfulfilled dreams that feel urgent to him; unfortunately, he has little initiative to realize those dreams, which include writing a novel. After he receives a head injury and apparent visitations from an unexpected supernatural muse and some sexual adventures, readers won’t be sure if the two will be able to make things work together—or, for that matter, on their own. The main characters are most appealing during introspective moments, as readers learn what they once saw in each other and what they now hope for themselves. The pace is consistent and the tone light, although Lincoln overdoes the metaphors at times; Claire thinks about her life’s lack of “balance” and “fluidity” while practicing tai chi, for instance, and feels “adrift” on a canoe trip gone wrong. However, fun cameos by Terry Gross from National Public Radio, along with another surprise guest, may win readers over. The supporting cast keeps the subplots moving, and the couple’s activities, including attempting to date other people, volunteering at a dog rescue, and attending golf tournaments, prevent the story from becoming overly unfocused. Gus, a philosophical dog who communicates eloquently—and telepathically—with mildly psychic Claire, and Sifu, a dojo master, provide cosmic and comic grounding to the couple’s quest for connection. For better or worse, readers may come away with the feeling that these two lost souls might just deserve each other.
A brisk, humorous story of a middle-aged couple in an unmoored marriage, stumbling toward safe harbor.Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781578691388
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Rootstock Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 12, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Simply charming.
A lovable gaggle of competitive quilters attempts to defy the odds.
The ladies of the Ogden Quilters Association are gearing up for another Simpton Family Quilting Extravaganza, and this year’s nationwide competition is extra special: It’s taking place just an hour away in Smithfield, Utah. For Betty Lou Dearden, OQA’s leader and most faithful member, who never misses a Wednesday quilting night and delights in reading the bylaws, this is a dream come true—a chance to put Utah quilting on the map. But beneath her bubbly surface, Betty Lou is struggling—longtime member Leera Smeeth has been passive aggressively shooting down Betty Lou’s ideas and attacking her sense of self for years (see: a particularly biting comment about her beloved peach bathroom); her children rarely visit; and her husband’s health is declining. And to top it off, OQA is down a member since Terry Blackfoot left following the oft-referenced but never explained “needle incident.” OQA’s remaining members—flighty but lovable Lucy Jones; dependable Diane Williams and her roommate, Alice Flagstaff; and innovative Candace Braithwaite—need more support. Enter Byron Grant, a gay sewing store manager who deals in rumor and gossip as much as in thread and batting, and his best friend, shy, artistic Rob, both younger than the youngest OQA member by about 30 years. Don’t worry, there’s nothing in the bylaws expressly prohibiting men. And so this quirky group of artisans attempts to dethrone the always-winning, clearly evil Logan Quilters Society (“We don’t hate anyone!...We just don’t prefer to associate with cheaters”), all the while wrestling with interpersonal conflict, trauma, and, let’s face it, a few tacky ideas. The plot is silly and largely predictable, but McCann’s prose is bursting at the seams with humor and genuinely tender, touching moments. You’ll root for these misfits from Page 1.
Simply charming.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2026
ISBN: 9798890920461
Page Count: 260
Publisher: Torrey House Press
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026
An evocative and moving tribute to the death-defying, heart-opening, infinitely redemptive power of storytelling.
A chance meeting in a museum unlocks a long-closed door in a family’s past.
Of a piece with her last three novels—Commonwealth (2016), The Dutch House (2019), and Tom Lake (2023)—Patchett’s latest explores the evolution of families over time, romantic secrets, and step-relationships, again giving these topics the wry and tender treatment that is distinctively hers. As it begins, Daphne Fuller’s attentive husband, Jonathan, notices that a man has been following them through the Metropolitan Museum of Art. At first they chalk it up to the fact that “old guys love [Daphne],” as she told Jonathan decades ago, a notion he has held onto "like a souvenir postcard from another era." But it turns out that, though Daphne doesn’t recognize him, Eddie Triplett is her former stepfather. Like the author herself, as recalled in her 2020 essay “Three Fathers,” Daphne has had three dads. Her biological father, a deep-sea fisherman named Buddy Zabriskie, left the family early; her current stepfather, Lucas Ekker, lives with her mother in retirement in Massachusetts. Ekker is an unprepossessing sort Abby met working as the publicist for his self-help books, Positivity!, Positively Positive!, The Positivity Workbook!, Positive Every Day!, ad infinitum. The man in the museum, Eddie Triplett, was also someone her mother met through her job in publishing, and once Daphne realizes who he is, she remembers that “[their] hearts were forever stitched together.” This is because Daphne and Eddie were in a serious car accident when she was 9 years old, after which her mother immediately divorced him and evicted him from their lives. The details of that accident—among them lies the reason the novel is named after a horse called Whistler—are gradually wheedled out of Daphne by her younger sister, Leda, a clinical psychologist in New York and a reliable source of insight on the narrative’s key issues. “‘You make it sound like I’ve been keeping all this from you, but I’m not,’ [Daphne] said. ‘Who goes through life thinking about what happened when they were nine?’ ‘It’s all people think about,’ Leda said.”
An evocative and moving tribute to the death-defying, heart-opening, infinitely redemptive power of storytelling.Pub Date: June 2, 2026
ISBN: 9780063511637
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
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