A rare and unforgettable look inside a cloistered religious culture shrouded in obscurity.
Two young women struggle with their faith—and the pull of the world—in Linkas’ novel.
Welcome to the Academy of the Sorrows of Mary, a convent-cum-prep school run by French Canadian Jesuit nuns who could teach the Marines a thing or two about discipline. The two main characters are Sister Philippe de Marie, a postulant in the order, and Janey Chadderton, a student in the attached prep school. We meet Sister Philippe as Janey’s new English teacher who ditches Tennyson in favor of Gerard Manley Hopkins (yes, this is daring stuff, and the girls revel in it). The story takes place over Janey’s senior year, and the titular vows provide the tension. Sister Philippe is expected to be taking final vows at year’s end. The students are not committed to the religious life (though it is not discouraged), but they are expected to take “Perpetual Vows” at graduation, meaning that whatever the rest of their lives hold, they will remain committed to Christ and the Church. Sister Philippe and Janey fall into something very much like love, with all the Sturm und Drang that goes with it. Janey sees things that she shouldn’t, which really tests her faith. Clearly Janey is based on the author, who went to just such a prep school, and Sister Philippe is likely based upon her older sister, Claudia, the dedicatee. Linkas is a published poet, and her writing reflects this poetic sensibility. After a toboggan flips over, Sister Jean, badly hurt, is described as “a ball of nun” in the snow. Early on, the nuns are described as “like a swarm of insects attacking the arbor, clipping at pride, curbing friendships,” and they “revered the mind, worshiped the soul, ignored the body.” And yet, despite the pious subject matter, this is a warmhearted and at times wondrously funny book.
A rare and unforgettable look inside a cloistered religious culture shrouded in obscurity.Pub Date: July 18, 2024
ISBN: 9798888701980
Page Count: 289
Publisher: En Route Books & Media
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2024
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
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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