A vibrant and heart-stopping novel.
A young woman must work a dangerous job to save her family during the Great Depression.
In June of 1930, former circus performer Grace O’Connell is lucky to have a job she loves, dancing for a show in Times Square. And while she’s grieving the untimely death of her father, her family is also lucky that her twin brother, Patrick, works as a riveter on the Empire State Building. Still, they live in precarity. Their mother refuses to send their younger sibling, Connie, to the doctor for fear of the cost, though the girl suffers from a chronic lung infection. When the club Grace dances for closes suddenly, it’s bad. But much worse occurs two days later when Patrick loses his footing at work, catching himself from plummeting to his death, but breaking an arm in the process. He can’t work with a broken arm, and since riveters work in teams, three other men are out of jobs as well—unless Grace disguises herself as Patrick and takes his place. Tizzard does a marvelous job bringing Depression-era New York City to the page. Along with immersive descriptions of nightlife and family life, she deftly illustrates the desperation of the times and the abject lack of social safety nets. No one wants Grace to go “up on the steel”—the risk of discovery is almost as dire as the risk of death or injury. And the building gets higher every day. But the job is the only thing that stands between this family and homelessness. Several subplots come to a head around the climax of the book, and having them compressed in such a way tips things toward melodrama. But Grace is a believably complex and good-hearted heroine, and Tizzard’s construction scenes are dizzyingly clear.
A vibrant and heart-stopping novel.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781668056943
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
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
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
SEEN & HEARD
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