An unforgettable and storm-lashed tale of two lovers fighting their way back to each other against the odds.
A woman takes to the sea to find her missing husband in this conclusion to Giordano’s Strange Eden trilogy.
The novel opens in New Providence, an island in the Bahamas, in the spring of 1794—nearly three years after Lady Eliza Sharpe left her English home to join her husband, Charles, at Pleasant Hall. Now she’s in crisis. Charles has been missing for two weeks, following their failed attempt to free an enslaved person on their property. In Charles’ absence, Lord Dunmore sends a flood of creditors to Pleasant Hall claiming debts that Eliza can’t disprove. As a woman with almost no legal standing, she finds herself dismissed and patronized: “They treated her like a foolish girl. They couldn’t even afford her the respect of a woman.” The visitors threaten not only her home, but also the enslaved people that she and Charles have vowed to release from bondage—an act that would destabilize Nassau’s economic order. Eliza is sure that her spouse is alive, despite others’ insistence that he’s dead. When Capt. Hiram Bruin, a privateer described as “deranged, violent, and show[ing] little mercy for women,” comes to Pleasant Hall to kill Eliza, she persuades him to instead accompany her on a quest to find Charles. Although she soon changes her mind, he subsequently drugs and kidnaps her, setting the stage for months of harrowing confinement on a ship. Parallel chapters follow Charles, who awakens on another vessel that harbors a brutal shipboard fight ring; he’s determined to escape and reunite with Eliza.
Once the novel heads out to sea, Eliza is concerned almost exclusively with her own survival and locating Charles, which leaved the fate of the enslaved people at Pleasant Hall frustratingly unexamined. Still, the book offers a compelling, if uncomfortable, portrayal of racist hierarchies persisting even in the worlds of privateers and pirates. The prose is strikingly vivid, lingering on dazzling natural beauty (“neighboring mountainous islands, looming so large and vast that she felt as though she could grasp them”) and the visceral brutality of shipboard violence (“Bodies laid sprawled all over the deck, their hot blood running in thin rivulets”). Longtime readers of the series will appreciate the deepening of Eliza and Charles’ once-rocky relationship, although some may struggle to forgive earlier violent behavior, which this installment reframes. New readers, however, will be able to jump right in, as well-placed flashbacks from prior entries fill in gaps without slowing momentum. The story is enriched by its mythological echoes—most explicitly the Orpheus/Eurydice dynamic acknowledged by Eliza, but also the wandering trials of Homer’s Odyssey, which lend an epic scale to Eliza’s and Charles’ struggles. The persistent threat of sexual violence in this narrative, while historically grounded, may deter some readers, and one major twist could have been revealed later in the narrative to deliver a fuller shock. Ultimately, though, the novel challenges readers to confront “what you would do if you lost what you value most.”
An unforgettable and storm-lashed tale of two lovers fighting their way back to each other against the odds.Pub Date: Nov. 20, 2025
ISBN: 9798986983448
Page Count: 478
Publisher: Käferhaus Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 9, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A warm and winning "When Harry Met Sally…" update that hits all the perfect notes.
A travel writer has one last shot at reconnecting with the best friend she just might be in love with.
Poppy and Alex couldn't be more different. She loves wearing bright colors while he prefers khakis and a T-shirt. She likes just about everything while he’s a bit more discerning. And yet, their opposites-attract friendship works because they love each other…in a totally platonic way. Probably. Even though they have their own separate lives (Poppy lives in New York City and is a travel writer with a popular Instagram account; Alex is a high school teacher in their tiny Ohio hometown), they still manage to get together each summer for one fabulous vacation. They grow closer every year, but Poppy doesn’t let herself linger on her feelings for Alex—she doesn’t want to ruin their friendship or the way she can be fully herself with him. They continue to date other people, even bringing their serious partners on their summer vacations…but then, after a falling-out, they stop speaking. When Poppy finds herself facing a serious bout of ennui, unhappy with her glamorous job and the life she’s been dreaming of forever, she thinks back to the last time she was truly happy: her last vacation with Alex. And so, though they haven’t spoken in two years, she asks him to take another vacation with her. She’s determined to bridge the gap that’s formed between them and become best friends again, but to do that, she’ll have to be honest with Alex—and herself—about her true feelings. In chapters that jump around in time, Henry shows readers the progression (and dissolution) of Poppy and Alex’s friendship. Their slow-burn love story hits on beloved romance tropes (such as there unexpectedly being only one bed on the reconciliation trip Poppy plans) while still feeling entirely fresh. Henry’s biggest strength is in the sparkling, often laugh-out-loud-funny dialogue, particularly the banter-filled conversations between Poppy and Alex. But there’s depth to the story, too—Poppy’s feeling of dissatisfaction with a life that should be making her happy as well as her unresolved feelings toward the difficult parts of her childhood make her a sympathetic and relatable character. The end result is a story that pays homage to classic romantic comedies while having a point of view all its own.
A warm and winning "When Harry Met Sally…" update that hits all the perfect notes.Pub Date: May 11, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0675-8
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
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