An intriguing story about wealth and power undermined by lack of character development.
A Black billionaire’s unexpected death leads his daughter on a quest to uncover ugly truths about his past.
Prescod made her literary debut with the memoir Token Black Girl (2022), about how growing up Black in a mostly white community in Connecticut led to depression, an estrangement from Black culture, and a serious eating disorder. A veteran of the fashion and beauty industries, she offers a unique perspective on both Black and white spaces, and her first novel reflects some of this hard-earned knowledge. Meet the Carter family: There’s patriarch William Carter, Jr., who rose from humble beginnings to become a self-made billionaire; his wife, Jacqueline, a former actress who chose a comfortable role as a wife and mother over the grind of the spotlight; loyal son Asher, who’s quietly flunking out of Harvard Business School; and daughter Kennedy, an aspiring filmmaker. The Carters are preparing to gather at their massive Martha’s Vineyard estate to celebrate William’s 70th birthday, and Kennedy has been working on a video about her father to be shown at the party. But self-made men often harbor secrets, and when William dies unexpectedly before the event can get underway, an uneasy Kennedy finds herself taking a closer look at her father’s past. She’s unable to stop chasing truths better left hidden, especially about William’s relationship with a mysterious friend called Kofi and their tangled ties to a development in Ghana. The setup is promising and story intriguing; readers will find themselves invested in how the Carters weather the storm of revelations. But Prescod spends too much time telling, not showing. Cliches worm their way into the story—at least two Carters vomit because they’re upset, for example—and the character development never reaches deeper than surface level.
An intriguing story about wealth and power undermined by lack of character development.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2025
ISBN: 9781662520129
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Mindy's Book Studio
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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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