In cool, sinewy prose, this astute and timely novel explores the roles of beauty, art, and passion in a time of survival.
While living in a world on the brink of environmental collapse, a young woman prepares for the return of a violent figure from her past.
In a near-future England devastated by climate change, Penelope and her partner, Aidan, have converted a massive, crumbling country house into a residence for climate migrants. Penelope was once an aspiring art historian, but living through the rise of homelessness, hunger, and political instability has made her academic ambitions appear untenable: “Ideas and theories could no longer hold together the disparate parts of the world.” Now, she spends her days preparing meals for residents and venturing into the derelict city center for supplies. But as repairs pile up and resources grow scarce, Penelope and Aidan are forced to sell the estate and its remaining valuable objects. As part of the sale, the couple decides to invite Aidan’s fierce, detached brother, Julian, to see the house he grew up in one final time. As Julian’s arrival grows near, Penelope is roiled by harrowing memories of their brief romance—and one unforgettable, terrible night. She can’t sleep, kept awake by nightmares in which ravenous termites destroy her home. By day, Penelope throws herself into her archival work, preparing the house for sale by cataloging its contents—pictures, postcards, novels, albums of stamps and flowers—descriptions of which are interwoven throughout the text. Shifting between Penelope’s diary entries and an omniscient description of Julian’s passage to England by train, the novel builds an electric undercurrent of doom. Despite an unflappable, subdued narrative tone, there’s legitimate suspense as Julian nears Penelope’s home.
In cool, sinewy prose, this astute and timely novel explores the roles of beauty, art, and passion in a time of survival.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9781953387387
Page Count: 230
Publisher: Two Dollar Radio
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
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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