An expertly told tale of loss, love, and second chances.
A historical novel about one young man’s run toward freedom decades after the Civil War.
Walker’s debut novel opens in Richmond, Virginia, in 1887, where Black teenager John works for Tyrone Billingsly, a White man who once enslaved John’s father. Tyrone is kind enough to John, but his wife, Laura, wants nothing to do with the young man. John decides to steal from the family—an act that leads to an unexpected death. John’s mother suggests that he head to Mount Hope, Alabama, where Cousin Riley lives, so John and his friend Douglas take off together. Thus begins a 41-year journey for John in which he seeks true freedom and wrestles with his personal demons; along the way, Tyrone remains on his trail. John’s travels take him to Atlanta; Birmingham, Alabama, where a dramatic confrontation occurs; and, finally, Mount Hope in 1893. There, he searches for a family member and tries to forge a new life, but in this small Southern town, he still faces numerous threats as a person of color. Over the course of this novel, Walker delivers deft storytelling with superb pacing and compelling, believable dialogue. The work eventually becomes an epic tale that resembles a quest narrative. The prose throughout is vivid, as well, as in an evocative description of John’s mother as “a stout forty-nine-year-old with grape-colored skin and dark brown, recessed eyes. Tufts of unruly black hair dangled from her blue-and-white checkered madras tignon.” Stories that take place over decades can easily become overwhelming and unwieldy, but Walker writes tightly and expertly here, crafting an intriguing plot with a real feeling for history.
An expertly told tale of loss, love, and second chances.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 9781611534962
Page Count: 380
Publisher: Torchflame Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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