An excellent addition to the growing catalog of 21st-century dystopian nightmares.
In a climate-ravaged future, a mother and daughter from London plan to have their minds merged as a form of government-sponsored population control.
In this taut thriller, a new kind of technology enables a person’s mind to coexist in another’s body. The two minds in one body are then called Combines, identifiable by their double names, mandala neck tattoos, and green clothing. A government-corporate enterprise, also called Combine, the process is marketed as a way of reducing the population and reversing climate change, but people who don’t merge are punished through government mandates: Most are forced from their homes into government apartment buildings, menstrual cycles are monitored, prison inmates are involuntarily merged, Oxford will only accept Combines. Of course, if you have the money, you can remain as you are. Amelia Anderson, a videographer, and her mother, Laurie, have signed up for an experimental merge group of risky cases—Laurie has Alzheimer’s disease, which will be cured when she merges into the body of her daughter. However, even with her failing cognition, Laurie is against the merge, as are many in London who protest in the streets and outside the Combine clinics. Secretly, Amelia volunteered them both as a form of gonzo journalism to have access to the inner workings of Combine during their three-month preparation period. She plans for them to escape before the merge, but doesn’t realize how difficult that will be. Walker has produced an inventive exploration of climate change, class disparity, corporate influence, and biotech “enhancement,” all of which converge in this frightening vision of a totalitarian Britain. Amelia and her mother discover Combine’s deadly secrets, in a world where individuality takes on a new meaning. Whether they will be able to escape is another matter.
An excellent addition to the growing catalog of 21st-century dystopian nightmares.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9780063446731
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Mariner Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 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
SEEN & HEARD
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
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