An exceptional plot and characters make this historical novel a keeper.
The award-winning McFadden tells a tale of grave robbery, the Underground Railroad, and more in a historical novel set in Western Pennsylvania.
It’s 1857 in Hartsgrove, Pennsylvania, and four doctors and a druggist exhume—“resurrect” in the parlance of the era—the body of recently deceased Black man Fudge Van Pelt in order to further their studies in anatomy. This is illegal, and things heat up when a skinned corpse turns up. Another eerie grave-digging episode involves Dr. William Darling, mentored by the old Dr. Cyrus Vasbinder, and two of the co-conspirators who dug up Van Pelt. Will is an earnest young man, and when his patient, little Molly Plotner, goes from near death to robust health and then, supposedly, to death, Will is flummoxed. He and his friends hope to dig up Molly’s body to see if an autopsy will yield answers, but they find an empty coffin. Against this backdrop, the plot goes galloping off, with a dramatic trial, a jail escape, the blossoming of love between Will and the spirited Kathleen O’Hanlon, and a tragic Underground Railroad escapade. The conclusion is both shocking and weirdly believable and satisfying, as befits an author who has earned multiple honors for his work, which was included in The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2021. Memorable characters include the kindly but compromised Dr. Cyrus Vasbinder; the bloviating politician Levi Smathers; Henry Westerman, a free Black man known as Black Hen; and the mysterious Augustus Hamilton, who claims to be free but may or may not be. The tremulous desire of old Black Hen for the widow Van Pelt is deeply touching. A wonderful writer, McFadden has a poet’s way with words: “Fudge wore his worry like a necktie”; “[Will] was a free man, shackled to his fears”; “a sleep of refuge more than restoration.” His thoroughly engrossing book seamlessly weaves humor and sadness, wit and tragedy, fear and love.
An exceptional plot and characters make this historical novel a keeper.Pub Date: Jan. 26, 2022
ISBN: 979-8-7984-7481-3
Page Count: 264
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022
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
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
© 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.
