Doing what she does best, Johnson shows us why she's been compared to writers like Henry James, Jane Austen, and Voltaire.
A Californian facing her second divorce, this one in France, returns to the bosom of her family.
In her 18th book, Johnson, now 86, returns with undimmed joie de vivre to the delicious Francophile vein she mined so successfully in her National Book Award finalist Le Divorce (1997) and other novels. Everything one looks forward to in Johnson's books is delivered in abundance here: nimble plotting, witty narration, edifying juxtaposition of French and American cultures. Returning to her hometown of San Francisco just before the financial crisis of the aughts, art historian Lorna Mott "had remembered America differently, without people lying in the street, neighbors being tied up and robbed, junk food, obesity, cars everywhere." Yet after 20 mostly happy years in the sweet village of Pont-les-Puits, she has had it with her aging playboy husband's indiscretions and now hopes to be of use to her adult children. They have problems, almost all concerning finances. Divorced Peggy can't make ends meet selling crafts on the internet; money's run out for daughter Julie's college tuition. Tech wonder-boy Curt has disappeared to the Far East after awakening from a coma, leaving a wife and young twins. Old hippie Hams and his pierced and pregnant wife are living in a terrible neighborhood. Their father, Lorna's ex, has married a young gazillionaire but seems to have little interest in helping the children of his first marriage—until he faces a problem with their 15-year-old half sister that manages to pull almost all the plot elements and cast members into a single focus. Ta da! Johnson's social and moral insight are condensed into pithy one-liners that begin each chapter: "Hope springs eternal and is sometimes rewarded." "Pace Freud, does talking about a problem always make us feel better?" She also excels at evoking people's misconstruals of others' behavior and various delicate inner states: "Her French troubles with Armand and wifedom had faded to a bearable background hum, a kind of tinnitus."
Doing what she does best, Johnson shows us why she's been compared to writers like Henry James, Jane Austen, and Voltaire.Pub Date: June 29, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-525-52108-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
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 dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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