A moving novel about tragedy and recovery.
Slevin delivers a riveting novel about two abused women in New York City in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
As the story opens in 2001, journalist Elizabeth Allen drags herself up off the floor after her husband, a disgraced rock star, has brutally beaten her in their Upper West Side apartment before leaving. Across the city, Fancy Maguire showers after being raped by her fireman spouse. The 9/11 attack brings these women together after Fancy’s husband dies as a first responder at the Twin Towers and Elizabeth decides to rehabilitate her own fading career by writing about the experience of survivors. Although the two women’s circumstances are different in many ways, they find common ground in their shared despair at the hands of supposedly “good” men: “Was Frank a good man?” muses Elizabeth. “For all public accounts of his life, he was. Only Fancy and I knew the truth.” Both women struggle with their knowledge of their husbands’ violent natures. At the same time, Elizabeth and Fancy both mourn the men they once loved and think carefully about how they want the unsuspecting world to think of their spouses. Slevin structures the story around Elizabeth’s first-person narration, interspersing transcripts of her interviews with Fancy and members of her extended family and friends. Although Fancy’s experience of domestic abuse ends with her husband’s death, Slevin effectively maintains the narrative momentum with the ongoing story of Elizabeth’s traumatic marriage, which continues for a year after the attacks. Her arc notably mirrors the city’s own journey from despair to hope as she suffers a final, brutal attack, recovers, and experiences a new life as part of a larger community, including Fancy and her family.
A moving novel about tragedy and recovery.Pub Date: July 15, 2026
ISBN: 9798234124029
Page Count: 318
Publisher: Red Creek Works
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2026
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 deliciously dramatic look at how one woman’s past influences her future.
A happily engaged woman is pulled back to her hometown—and her first love—when tragedy strikes.
Billie Wright is living her dream, running a thriving fertility clinic in New York City and engaged to a wonderful trauma surgeon named Dean. Her happily-ever-after meant giving up her life in Wisconsin, where she left behind many friends as well as her high school sweetheart, Mick. Although they’d been deeply in love, when Billie’s ambition pulled her away from home and toward the city, Mick couldn’t handle either the distance or her busy schedule. Billie has finally moved on from that heartbreak—but then she receives a phone call from Mick, the first communication between them in years. Her best friend, Erin, died in a car accident, leaving behind an 11-year-old daughter, Phoebe. Now Billie must return home to help sort Erin’s affairs and provide some kind of comfort to Phoebe while grieving the loss of her best friend. Of course, being back home also means being in close contact with Mick. Their feelings for each other may not have ever gone away, and their proximity leads to big decisions for Billie. Can she ever reconcile her current life in Manhattan with her past in Wisconsin? And which one will be her future? Giffin knows how to do drama, and she ratchets up the stakes with every page as she continues to reveal new obstacles for Billie. The ending wraps up quite neatly, but the nostalgia-filled ride is full of twists and turns that will keep readers flipping the pages.
A deliciously dramatic look at how one woman’s past influences her future.Pub Date: July 7, 2026
ISBN: 9780593600320
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
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