The soothing tone and warm worldview of this grown-up bedtime story will be good for what ails you.
After sudden, life-changing loss—then what?
In his second novel, Joella returns to the narrative gambit of his debut, A Little Hope (2021), establishing parallel narratives for several small-town characters and then—poof!—revealing how they turn up in each other's lives. Here the town is Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the time is deep winter, and the characters are Chuck, Kirsten, and Ella. Chuck is a recent widower in his early 70s whose grief after the death of his wife is immobilizing, and regret over one poorly resolved disagreement—he was wrong, so wrong, and now he can never fix it—becomes an obsessive concern. Kirsten is a 20-something whose beloved father was murdered during a gas station robbery; like Chuck, she is derailed by grief, abandoning plans to apply to veterinary school and moving numbly through her days working at an animal shelter. Ella is a young mother whose ex-husband picked their daughter up early from school one day several months ago and completely disappeared. As collateral damage, she also lost her house and is now working two menial jobs to pay rent. Joella develops these characters with enormous empathy and clarity in the sonorous narrative tone of a benevolent god who sees and knows all and who can be counted on to address the chaos he has wrought on their lives. The guiding image of the book is a cardinal: According to Chuck's late wife, Cat, "the most special birds because they kept us company in winter when the other birds leave." "Be someone's cardinal," she urged her middle school students, one of whom, it turns out, was Kirsten. The childlike pleasure of discovering connections like this is one of the most basic joys of reading and is key to Joella's storytelling.
The soothing tone and warm worldview of this grown-up bedtime story will be good for what ails you.Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-982190-97-2
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2022
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
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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