An insightful (if sometimes meandering) look at how the ripples of the past can unwittingly shape our future.
A struggling high school track coach is forced to confront his past when an old friend and rival reappears in his life in Penswick’s novel.
When readers first meet Turner, he’s living with his longtime girlfriend, Kim, and sleepwalking through his job as a teacher and track coach at Galt Tech High School outside Toronto. Originally hired to teach math, he’s now been “sentenced to English” by his vindictive principal and is focused on helping a talented track star, Donovan, break the record (set by a young Turner himself) at the upcoming Vintage Mile race. Turner’s past catches up to him when his former high school best friend, Lance, returns to Galt. Now a successful investment banker (in between jobs in the midst of the financial crisis), Lance dangles an “investment opportunity” in front of Kim, a real estate agent—an opportunity that may prove riskier than it first seems. Turner still resents Lance for winning the track scholarship that Turner had so desperately wanted back in high school before he blew out his knee during a race. As Lance begins joining Turner at track practice, the old rivalry instincts kick in as the two men compete for something more personal. But a tragic accident forces Turner to finally reconcile his past regrets, even as his relationship with Kim begins breaking down amidst their inability to conceive and he learns that Donovan has been silently struggling with an increasingly volatile home life. Turner decides that the only way for him to truly let go of his past demons is to compete one more time in the Vintage Mile.
Penswick excels at conveying Turner’s inner monologues and musings (of which there are many) with an endearing warmth that readers will likely sympathize with, even as they disagree with some of his choices. Turner’s long held grudge—believing that Lance “stole” his scholarship from him (although Turner’s injury cost him the prize)—can prove particularly frustrating, but it accurately represents a common failing of many former athletes (and people in general) who blame others for their own lost opportunities. The novel’s long and winding sentences demand readers’ utmost attention, but just when the thread of “he said,” “she said” extends until it’s difficult to remember who’s speaking in the first place, the author hits readers with startlingly astute observations of human nature: “All that time I’d been in Manhattan because it’s the centre of everything. But lately I’ve started thinking it might be like the eye of the storm, where nothing happens. Nothing real. Maybe real life happens out on the periphery, where there’s all the wind and mess.” Penswick explores not only the competitive world of high school sports, but also larger themes of physical abuse, infertility, infidelity, and trauma. While the love triangle aspect of the plot leaves something to be desired (mainly due to a conclusion that is likely to strike readers as a bit too tidy), it’s Turner’s struggle to move on from his past—and the insidious hold it still has on his present—that ultimately makes this such an engaging read. Fans of both deep character studies and sports fiction will find much to enjoy.
An insightful (if sometimes meandering) look at how the ripples of the past can unwittingly shape our future.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 979-8887938455
Page Count: 220
Publisher: Page Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 14, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A boarding-school fantasia, with Hilderbrand’s signature upgrades to the cuisine and decor. Sign us up for next term.
A year in the life of the No. 2 boarding school in America—up from No. 19 last year!
Rumors of Hilderbrand’s retirement were greatly exaggerated, it turns out, since not only has she not gone out to pasture, she’s started over in high school, with her daughter Shelby Cunningham as co-author. As their delicious new book opens, it’s Move-In Day at Tiffin Academy, and Head of School Audre Robinson is warmly welcoming the returning and new students to the New England campus, the latter group including a rare midstream addition to the junior class. Brainiac Charley Hicks is transferring from public school in Maryland to a spot that opened up when one of the school’s most beloved students died by suicide the preceding year. She will be joining a large, diverse cast of adult and teenage characters—queen bees, jealous second-stringers, boozehounds young and old, secret lesbians, people chasing the wrong people chasing other wrong people—all of them royally screwed when an app called Zip Zap appears and starts blasting everyone’s secrets all over campus. How the heck…? Meanwhile, it seems so unlikely that Tiffin has jumped up to the No. 2 spot in the boarding-school rankings that a high-profile magazine launches an investigation, and even the head is worried that there may have been payola involved. The school has a reputation for being more social than academic, and this quality gets an exciting new exclamation point when the resident millionaire bad boy opens a high-style secret speakeasy for select juniors in a forgotten basement. It’s called Priorities. Exactly. One problem: Cinnamon Peters’ mysterious suicide hangs over the book in an odd way, especially since the note she left for her closest male friend is not to be opened for another year—and isn’t. This is surely a setup for a sequel, but it’s a bit frustrating here, and bobs sort of shallowly along amid the general high spirits.
A boarding-school fantasia, with Hilderbrand’s signature upgrades to the cuisine and decor. Sign us up for next term.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9780316567855
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2025 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.
