An ambitious, sweeping, and tragic love story.
A decades-spanning tale of two actors finding, losing, and finding each other again.
Brodie’s compulsively readable novel opens in the summer of 2000, as AJ Graves works at her small-town Massachusetts video rental store before her senior year of high school. AJ spends her days dreaming of writing for Saturday Night Live, writing fan fiction, and obsessively watching Astronauticals, her favorite 1960s improvised SF show. Her life takes a dramatic turn when Noah Drew, the youngest member of the infamous Drew acting family, starts working at the store, too. The two initially bond over their love of comedy and acting, but they soon grow inseparable through shared family trauma. When Noah’s notorious great-aunt, Eudora Drew, offers to train them in the art of drama, their relationship—both on and offstage—is lit ablaze. “Your scene partner is your life,” reads the improvisation handbook written by Eudora’s husband and Noah’s late great-uncle, Ezell. And this is true for the pair—until Noah vanishes without a word. Seven years later, the two are unexpectedly reunited to work on an Astronauticals prequel called Into the Blue. When AJ is cast in a much larger role than expected, their simmering chemistry threatens to engulf them. As the production comes to a close, Noah reveals why he suddenly left all those years ago—and the past, present, and future come into devastating focus. Over the next decade, the two are unable to fully escape the “the connection between them, a thin gold cord” passionately tethering them together. Toward the end, the plot begins to feel repetitive and overly melodramatic. There are only so many times one couple can break up and make up before it begins to grate. Regardless, Brodie manages to build a universe that feels real, as well as a cast of complex characters full of humanity. The acting and improv worlds provide fertile ground that allows Brodie to explore ambition, talent, passion, and the life-changing power of art.
An ambitious, sweeping, and tragic love story.Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9798217093700
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Thousand Voices/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.
With only a month left until the world ends due to a swiftly approaching black hole, Don and Rodney, a retired gay couple, road-trip from Maine to Washington to spend their final days with their son.
After reports that a planet-swallowing black hole is making its way toward Earth, Rodney and Don—who have been together for 40 years and survived everything from homophobia to the HIV crisis—decide to pack their belongings into an RV, say goodbye to their neighbors, and travel from Camden, Maine, to Washington to uphold a promise to spend their final days with their son. They can’t wait any longer, since there’s already chaos around the country: “Military vehicles in the streets of most cities and towns. Looting, rioting, the burning of cars and buildings and people, all of it had already happened.” As they make their way west across the country, they encounter fellow travelers ranging from close-knit families to free-spirited hippies, some of whom have come to terms with the impending end of the world and others who haven’t. While the story seems to be asking readers what they would do if they had 30 days left to live, and reflects on what different kinds of acceptance might look like in the face of unavoidable tragedy, it loses some of its poignancy in a series of thinly padded monologues about the meaning of life. Clearly intended to pack an emotional punch, it’s failed by an abrupt ending, and the way the journey’s mystery—which will be obvious to many readers—is revealed by an info dump in the last chapter.
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781250881236
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
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