A worthwhile addition to the Blackbeard canon.
There’s always room for another treatment of the Blackbeard story, especially with two worthy adversaries.
The early 18th century was the great age of piracy in the Caribbean and off the East Coast of America. The most notorious of those pirates was Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard. On the other side was Lt. Robert Maynard, of the Royal Navy. Doggett’s historical novel begins as Maynard and his superior, Capt. Ellis Brand, have been ordered to find and arrest the brigand and end his reign of terror. To sweeten the pot, the King has decreed that pirates who abjure their wicked ways within a year will be pardoned. (At one point, Teach raises the possibility of a pardon to his crew but backs down.) We first meet the pirates at New Providence, their “capital” in the Bahamas. Pirate Woodes Rogers has accepted the pardon and been named governor of those islands. When he sails in to take up his protective new position, the pirates give him a fiery welcome and go off a-plundering. Blackbeard, with his captured French slave ship now christened the “Queen Anne’s Revenge,” along with his confederate Richard Richards captaining another “Revenge,” eventually make their way to Charles Town in South Carolina, blockade the port, and bleed the town dry of its treasure. Now Brand and Maynard are more determined than ever to catch their quarry. Eventually, off the coast of North Carolina, there comes a showdown, Blackbeard and Maynard, mano a mano, and the decks become awash with blood. History buffs will know the end result, but there are no spoilers here. Blackbeard says, prophetically, “Your name will be known only because of mine, Mr. Maynard.” Teach was an actual, historical, person and tailor made for the character that we know: a larger-than-life man who played the part of a demon from Hell so well that his prey usually gave up without a fight. His fate, ably told here, is very fitting. Doggett knows the pirate idiom well and creates some nuanced characters, Blackbeard the most fascinatingly realized of them all.
A worthwhile addition to the Blackbeard canon.Pub Date: April 4, 2024
ISBN: 9798321225110
Page Count: 244
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 4, 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
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
