A self-assured debut that is also a warning.
A treatment center’s planned relocation is upended by the effects of climate change.
The first words from Beatrice, the narrator of Nolan’s debut novel, are, “I lived in a box in the desert.” But it wasn’t always a desert; climate change has permanently altered the landscape of the northeast Texas town of Askewn, where Beatrice works as a coordinator at Twin Bridge Residential Treatment Center. The facility, “home for the traumatized/neglected/abused/criminal, oblivion addicts as a rule,” houses teenage girls. It’s run by a social services company that has partnered with a pharmaceutical outfit, which plies the girls with BeZen, a drug that seems to be effective at treating their mental illnesses. Beatrice and her co-workers are planning to move the home to Atlanta if her report on the girls’ reaction to BeZen is approved, but two things get in the way: bureaucracy, of course, but also a heatwave that sparks a power grid failure that throws much of the state into anarchy. Ordered to evacuate, Beatrice, a few of her co-workers, and seven of the girls decide to head to Georgia anyway, where there may or may not be a place for them. Things get bad, and then they get worse when the BeZen runs out. Beatrice, whose memories of her own unhappy childhood are seamlessly integrated into the narrative, proves to be a memorable character, as does Teresa, the oldest girl in the center, whose battle with her demons Nolan portrays beautifully. While the subject matter is as serious as can be, Nolan leavens the novel with gallows humor: At one point in their journey, Beatrice’s search terms include “how smuggle best child drug withdrawal” and “mississippi how easy swim dead drowned missing die”. The darkness of this excellent novel is amplified by how terrifyingly plausible it all is.
A self-assured debut that is also a warning.Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9781662603280
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Astra House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
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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