A reminder of the rewards of taking the more challenging path.
Dissatisfied with her prescribed life, a young woman attempts to be bold.
As a member of the Charleston, South Carolina, social elite, Simons Parks Smythe has had her life planned out for her since birth. For a while she stuck to the script: She was a debutante, she attends functions at the exclusive social club Battery Hall, and her fiance, Trip, has the “law degree and southern pedigree” that make him a perfect fit for her world. But Simons is not satisfied with this life. Not only does she feel stalled in her career as a producer at a local news station, but she is also growing increasingly uncomfortable with the idea of marrying Trip. This discomfort is spurred by the less-than-perfect marriages she sees around her as well as Trip’s controlling behavior: “When I reached for a second helping of potatoes au gratin, Trip pressed his hand against my thigh. His signal, invisible beneath the table, told me not to stuff myself in polite company.” With repeated encouragement from her beloved grandmother Laudie to be brave, Simons must weigh her desire for comfort and familiarity against her newfound taste for freedom and individuality. From occasional references to Simons’ passion for environmental reporting and her soft critiques of the racism of Charleston high society—“It seems Battery Hall is even more backwards than I had feared”—Hagerty’s attempts to set Simons apart from her peers feel largely shoehorned-in and underdeveloped. That said, the rich depictions of the Old Charleston world and its peculiar social rules, as well as Laudie’s intriguing backstory, give this novel just enough grit to make it worth reading.
A reminder of the rewards of taking the more challenging path.Pub Date: Aug. 17, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-306886-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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
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