A riveting tale that celebrates the tenacity of the human spirit.
Eager to escape his past, a widower embarks on a voyage to discover sunken treasure in this novelette of adventure and survival set in the 19th century.
When Cornelius Braddock meets Georges Dufort in the port city of Grimsby, England, he is unaware that his life is about to change. Dufort, “an older man with a walrus-tusk beard hiding most of his wrinkles,” tells Braddock a fantastical tale about treasure lost in a shipwreck in 1808 and furnishes proof of his story’s veracity. Braddock, eager to escape every reminder of the life he shared with his recently deceased wife, agrees to finance and lead a voyage to find the riches. What follows is a tale of intrigue and betrayal modeled after 19th-century adventure novels like Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Dufort disappears on the day of the voyage, and Braddock, who had overestimated his abilities as a sea captain, is at the mercy of the ship’s crew, which keeps him in a holding cell, routinely beats him, and forces him to retrieve the gold. Braddock escapes but is shipwrecked on the shores of Brittany, where he befriends a young boy and his mother, who nurses him back to health. Eventually, Braddock is discovered and escorted to Grimsby, where he is unjustly accused of murdering the crew; he is sentenced to death. Ryan’s book pulls readers in with the romance of buried treasure and holds them with an exciting narrative of an individual’s survival against all odds: Braddock “smiled a survivor’s smile as he floated weightlessly on the sea and watched the amber sunset reflect off the water and illuminate the gold doubloons in his hand.” Even though the story is not linear—the author shuttles back and forth in time—Ryan will hold his readers through the wild ride. Unfortunately, there are several illogical strands in the plot—including the ending—that may leave readers scratching their heads in confusion.
A riveting tale that celebrates the tenacity of the human spirit.Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2021
ISBN: 9781737814
Page Count: 38
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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 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
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