Janeites, rejoice! This novel is long enough to suit the largest pot of tea, and non-Janeites might like it, too.
An affecting, and even somewhat feminist, return to the world of the Austen family and its offshoots.
Fanny Knight—Jane Austen’s niece and a principal character in Hornby’s Godmersham Park (2022)—appears early in this pleasingly long ramble through the life cycles of two families, the Knights and the Knatchbulls. When she accepts Sir Edward Knatchbull’s proposal of marriage, she becomes stepmother to his five children as well as the tie between her family’s modest estate, Godmersham Park, and her husband’s grander one at Mersham-le-Hatch. But the heroine of this third volume based on Jane Austen’s relations is Fanny’s stepdaughter, Mary Dorothea Knatchbull. Just 13 when her father remarries, Mary conducts a war of détente with Fanny that might have impressed Napoleon, peppering their infrequent exchanges with deadly pauses: “…Ma-ma.” As Fanny falters under her husband’s defenses of the status quo, Mary Dorothea lives with the Knights for a bit and discovers a happier lifestyle, becoming close to Austen’s nieces Louisa and Cassy. There’s a method to the author’s impeccably researched look at 19th-century manners: Not only does she get to the titular event (never fear, there’s an Austen-worthy young gentleman involved), but she shows the choices available to the era’s women. For every mother of five or seven or even 15 (like Austen’s niece Lizzie, who lived to “a long and happy old age”), there’s an interfering Lady Banks, a coquettish Lady Elizabeth Bligh, or a stalwart helpmeet like Miss Cassandra Austen (who, in real life, burned many of her brilliant sister’s letters after Jane’s death). Fortunately, as Mary grows into her own, readers will find observations from her and others that underscore changing notions of how women can gain a measure of control, even if it’s only over whom to marry. At her coming-out dance, Mary thinks: “It was almost as if humans only truly examined their own selves, and took little to no notice of others.” Austen herself would approve.
Janeites, rejoice! This novel is long enough to suit the largest pot of tea, and non-Janeites might like it, too.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781639369652
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Pegasus
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
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
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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