A compact but moving collection that will stay with readers long after they close the book.
Morrow highlights human connections and love in this collection of short stories.
The story “Waxwings” describes a ritual between birds in which their “mutual and reciprocal” custom of passing fruit to one another is borne not simply out of necessity but also love; this first story sets the tone for the rest of the collection. In these five pieces of short fiction, the author examines the depth of love in relationships both romantic and familial. The titular story, “Vacation,” follows Thomas and Grace Kemp, a couple touring the Grand Canyon. Thomas has recently developed a proof that explains the existence of God. While expounding on his ideas in a lecture, Thomas notices an extremely tall man, who states, “I miss faith.” Later, at the Grand Canyon, he meets the same mysterious man and has a horrific discussion with him that rattles Thomas. In this piece, Morrow examines the concept of faith, as well as the depth of love between Thomas and Grace. A similarly evocative story, “Mr. Coe’s Garden,” concerns Curtis, a teenager in need of some spare cash who helps his neighbor, Mr. Coe, create a garden in his backyard. Over time, Mr. Coe’s idiosyncrasies, along with his eccentric plans for the garden, start to make sense when a buried time capsule is uncovered, leading to an emotional resolution. The collection’s standout story is “Navigation.” Lewis is a young man who gets lost so easily and so often that he draws intricate maps of different places to guide him. In college, he meets Robin, and they fall in love. When they vacation in Italy, Lewis thinks to himself, “In her I am never lost. By her I am always found.” Though Morrow’s stories seem brief and simple, there is a depth of feeling displayed throughout. There is also a slight irreverence to the characters, leading to dashes of humor that supplement the emotional gravitas of each story. The scenarios feel lived-in and real, even when something mystical might be taking place. This is an admirable and affecting anthology.
A compact but moving collection that will stay with readers long after they close the book.Pub Date: Nov. 9, 2024
ISBN: 9798888702680
Page Count: 217
Publisher: En Route Books & Media
Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Fans of Stockett’s bestselling debut will love this engaging follow-up.
Stockett heads to Mississippi for another historical novel about feisty women.
This time, perhaps recalling criticisms of cultural appropriation in The Help (2009), she sticks to feisty white women, with one exception. The setting is Oxford in 1933. For two miserable years, 11-year-old Meg has lived in “the Orphan,” a county asylum for parentless girls. Chairlady Garnett—a villain so one-note she’d twirl a mustache if she had one—makes it her mission to ostracize the older girls she deems unadoptable, stigmatizing them as offspring of the “feebleminded” mothers who abandoned them. She particularly has it in for smart, sassy Meg, who refuses to believe her mother’s mysterious disappearance was deliberate. Elsewhere in Oxford, Birdie Calhoun comes to visit her sister Frances, who married a wealthy banker, to ask for money on behalf of their mother and grandmother back in Footely. Frances isn’t thrilled by this reminder of her impoverished small-town origins. But she’s trying to climb up in Oxford society by volunteering at the Orphan, the asylum’s books need to be done before the state inspector shows up in a few weeks, and Birdie is a bookkeeper. Having neatly arranged to keep Birdie in town and draw these two storylines together, Stockett goes on to spin a compulsively readable yarn with enough plot for a half-dozen novels. Birdie and Meg become friends, Meg is adopted despite Garnett’s best efforts, Meg’s mother turns up at the Orphan demanding to know where her child is—and that’s less than a quarter of the way through a long, winding narrative that keeps piling on more dramatic developments until all loose ends are neatly, if hastily, wrapped up in the final pages. Stockett might be making a point about Southern women facing facts and standing up for themselves, but mostly this is just a satisfyingly twisty tale that should make a great miniseries.
Fans of Stockett’s bestselling debut will love this engaging follow-up.Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9781954118812
Page Count: 656
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
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
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