An affirmational novel that maps out a mystical but insubstantial trek.
Clovis hastens readers along the path to enlightenment in this short spiritual work.
In this book’s framing device, the reader is lost in a dark forest. Luckily, they have a guide, a companion, someone to point out life’s brilliant mysteries and remind the reader to breathe. “OUR story is the journey of the state of grace,” writes this comrade and narrator, who always renders pronouns in all-caps. “OUR path unfolds with the light already within US. OUR inner flashlight is guiding US. Gratitude is the flashlight within. All that matters in the next step into the darkness of the forest.” As the reader moves through the forest with their guide, they’re treated to affirmations regarding their place in the universe, symbolic lessons tied to butterflies and waterfalls, and cosmic considerations related to the vastness of space and time. While it’s easy to lose one’s path in the dark forest, says the narrator, the reader shouldn’t worry too much, as there is a Creator whose light burns within them. But, the narrator asks, what will happen when the forest falls away and one finds oneself back in the real world? Clovis writes with urgency and lyricism, with her prose, at its best, evoking a kind of Old Testament–style poetry: “For the Earth is an old piece of clay with thousands of thumbprints. And white brushstrokes paint the dusk of evening sky as God is indeed the magnificent painter and sculptor of the universe leaving a portrait of three billion stars and a supermassive black hole.” Although the book bills itself as a “Meditative Novel,” it is not a novel in any traditional sense. For example, each chapter is only a paragraph long, and fully half the pages are blank; there’s no plot or differentiated characters, and the setting is an allegorical forest with few distinguishing details other than darkness. With little to hold onto other than Clovis’ repetitive affirmations, readers will likely fight the urge not to slip away into the trees—as, unfortunately, there’s little to be gained by following the path to the end.
An affirmational novel that maps out a mystical but insubstantial trek.Pub Date: April 11, 2023
ISBN: 9798765241028
Page Count: 116
Publisher: BalboaPress
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
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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