A sensitive and moving tale of family tragedy and renewal.
A novel focuses on a family fractured by a series of shocks and secrets.
Eddy Kimes, one of the main characters in Seaburn’s tale, is a longtime supervisor for a cable company. Although he’s lived through many changes of company ownership, as the story opens, he’s increasingly worried that this latest pause in work is actually the dreaded L-word: layoff. This problem comes on top of the concern now undergirding his entire life: His wife, Gayle, a tax accountant with a booming business, has recently been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and suddenly she’s requiring medicine, extra care, and chemotherapy. This development brings home their two adult children, Richie and Sandy, who have become almost strangers in the time since they moved out of the family house. “There were Facebook posts and texts and the rare visits, but it was different in ways that he couldn’t put into words,” Eddy reflects. “All he knew was that they had become warm, affable acquaintances, people you enjoyed but didn't know.” Richie and Sandy are carrying their own baggage. While Eddy is trying to hold the situation together alone (“Sometimes you have to keep things to yourself,” he thinks, “otherwise, everything might crash into a million pieces on the floor”), he’s receiving a surprising amount of support from his visits to the statue of Christ the Consoler at the nearby First Presbyterian Church. At one point in Seaburn’s engaging story, readers are told: “Every person’s suffering is singular, no matter how much we want to believe otherwise.” And yet the tale’s main theme belies this sentiment; the book is a poignant and convincing portrayal of how suffering can be softened by both faith and community. The author’s dramatization of the day-to-day realities of living with cancer is etched with fine details and deep compassion. Without any fanfare, this element of the novel comes to dominate the others, tilting a faith and relationship tale into an illness and coping story that explores powerful emotions.
A sensitive and moving tale of family tragedy and renewal.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68-433764-4
Page Count: 262
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2021
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
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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