An intriguing, if overlong, reimaging of old-time entertainment history.
In this historical novel, Perlstein chronicles the rise of a transgender performer from Havana to Hollywood.
Anshel Sobel is born in Warsaw around 1910 and raised in New York City from the age of 2 under the American name Albert. In 1929, she fakes her own death, leaves her family behind, and heads for Havana under a new name: Lola Torres. She’s a talented pianist and singer, and she finds a place to stay with the sister of the Sobels’ housekeeper. Cuba seems like a land of opportunity for Lola, but it’s also a land of danger where her transgender status, Judaism, and Communist sympathies can lead to serious trouble. She’s soon performing in some of Havana’s hottest clubs under an even newer name: Lola Flores. She can’t keep her past completely hidden, however; an empathetic costumer, Fernando Fallon, who’s also transgender, tells her upon their first meeting, “You are not the first woman I have met who was born what seemed a man. Or a man born a woman.” Fernando becomes Lola’s secret-keeper and adviser, and together they embark on an impressive career, finding stardom not just in nightclubs, but on the Broadway stage, on radio and records, and even in films. Her celebrity brings her into the orbit of mobsters such as Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel and Meyer Lansky and to the attention of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. It turns out that America is Lola’s land of opportunity after all, especially now that she’s there on her own terms. But as Lola’s star rises, the fear that her secret will be revealed lingers in the background.
Perlstein’s prose rolls out like a reel of film, convincingly illuminating early-1930s Cuba, late ’30s New York, and ’40s Los Angeles. At one point, for instance, Lola gets support from some familiar folks following her performance in the Ziegfeld Follies: “A hand patted Lola’s behind as the final curtain descended. ‘You were aces, kid,’ said Bob Hope, who’d had a previous Broadway hit. In the wings, Fanny Brice gave Lola a knip, pinching the flesh of Lola’s left cheek between her thumb and index finger. ‘Oy! A Cuban me, only prettier!’ ” Over the course of the novel, the author manages to get plenty of mileage out of Lola’s nesting-doll identities and aliases, which she uses to achieve a variety of goals. It’s a somewhat lengthy novel at nearly 450 pages, and, at times, it feels as if Perlstein is simply moving Lola through history for little reason other than the joy of encountering real-life celebrities and various world events. The book ultimately—and unexpectedly—has more to say about the American Jewish experience than about the transgender one, which readers may find intriguing or disappointing depending on their interests. Overall, this is a work that’s not quite a picaresque but not entirely serious in tone, either, and the book gets by, much like its protagonist, on the sheer bravado of its vision.
An intriguing, if overlong, reimaging of old-time entertainment history.Pub Date: March 30, 2022
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 356
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 6, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.
With only a month left until the world ends due to a swiftly approaching black hole, Don and Rodney, a retired gay couple, road-trip from Maine to Washington to spend their final days with their son.
After reports that a planet-swallowing black hole is making its way toward Earth, Rodney and Don—who have been together for 40 years and survived everything from homophobia to the HIV crisis—decide to pack their belongings into an RV, say goodbye to their neighbors, and travel from Camden, Maine, to Washington to uphold a promise to spend their final days with their son. They can’t wait any longer, since there’s already chaos around the country: “Military vehicles in the streets of most cities and towns. Looting, rioting, the burning of cars and buildings and people, all of it had already happened.” As they make their way west across the country, they encounter fellow travelers ranging from close-knit families to free-spirited hippies, some of whom have come to terms with the impending end of the world and others who haven’t. While the story seems to be asking readers what they would do if they had 30 days left to live, and reflects on what different kinds of acceptance might look like in the face of unavoidable tragedy, it loses some of its poignancy in a series of thinly padded monologues about the meaning of life. Clearly intended to pack an emotional punch, it’s failed by an abrupt ending, and the way the journey’s mystery—which will be obvious to many readers—is revealed by an info dump in the last chapter.
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781250881236
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
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