An elegy with momentum and teeth.
A woman returns home in the wake of her father’s death.
Mina is nearly 30, living in London in the slipstream of her best friend and flatmate, a fastidiously perfect “digital activist” named Liz. When her father dies, a trip home to Italy for his funeral becomes an extended stay as Mina and her sister, Aisha, work to preserve the bar, Tangerinn, that was their father’s livelihood and the epicenter of immigrant life in their coastal town. The two sisters were privy to different sides of their father, and their lives have each been shaped by the pieces of himself he shared with them. Born in Morocco, he came of age in the midst of the Western Sahara War and participated in the bread riots of 1981. He ached to leave home, and eventually he did. In a narrative that zags between past and present, Mina traces the similarities between herself and her elusive father. Hunger is a pervasive theme, both the literal hunger of her father’s childhood and the insatiable appetite for a meaningful life that drives Mina away from home and back again. The voice is a propulsive second person, a direct address to Mina’s late father that, for long sections, reads as first person. Anechoum’s prose, in Rand’s translation, is unassuming yet exquisitely detailed, with keen observations falling thick and fast throughout the novel. If there is a weak point, it’s in the depiction of Liz and her hyper-relevant coterie of hip Londoners: Some people may be that relentlessly obnoxious, but the pitch of Liz’s absurdity amounts to caricature, and caricature isn’t necessary when insights like this abound: “We were wild girls, but it wasn’t something to be proud of. Perhaps this is what Liz sensed and envied in me, she who worked so hard to imitate the freedom that comes from neglect.”
An elegy with momentum and teeth.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9798889661603
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
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
© Copyright 2026 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.
