An ambitious if didactic saga about overcoming one’s past in order to build a better future.
A dispirited soldier learns lessons from a preternaturally wise carpenter in Zacaroli’s philosophical debut novel.
Danat, a young soldier haunted by his experiences during a war—one that destroyed his home and killed his entire family—wanders into a desert town and immediately spies a beautiful woman with a broken cart. Wanting to help her fix her cart but lacking the skills to do so, he finds the town carpenter and offers to sell the man his labor in exchange for him repairing the cart. The carpenter sees through the young man’s scheme, and though he refuses to help him seduce the woman, he does invite Danat to become his apprentice. The apprentice bristles at the carpenter’s oblique lessons, which seem to have little to do with his trade, but after Danat helps defend the town from a marauding army, the carpenter releases him from his service, asking him to help lead the townspeople to safety before a second attack arrives. It is on the final night before the apprentice and the townspeople leave that the carpenter—who cannot go with them—finally teaches Danat the lessons he needs to know. But will those lessons be enough to face the trials ahead of him as he seeks to be a leader in his newly chosen community? The novel recalls Coelho’s The Alchemist (1988) in its blend of folkloric elements—including a minimalist, expository narrative style—with long conversations informed by psychology and spirituality. “The fear that has tormented you most of your life is teaching you something very important,” the carpenter tells his apprentice. “When you learn what it is, the fear will subside like the floodwaters after a sudden downpour.” While Zacaroli does an admirable job keeping the plot moving, with a large cast of characters and sequences straight out of an action movie, the reader will nevertheless require a high tolerance for self-help speak to fully enjoy this novel.
An ambitious if didactic saga about overcoming one’s past in order to build a better future.Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9798822968530
Page Count: 380
Publisher: Palmetto Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 20, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.
With only a month left until the world ends due to a swiftly approaching black hole, Don and Rodney, a retired gay couple, road-trip from Maine to Washington to spend their final days with their son.
After reports that a planet-swallowing black hole is making its way toward Earth, Rodney and Don—who have been together for 40 years and survived everything from homophobia to the HIV crisis—decide to pack their belongings into an RV, say goodbye to their neighbors, and travel from Camden, Maine, to Washington to uphold a promise to spend their final days with their son. They can’t wait any longer, since there’s already chaos around the country: “Military vehicles in the streets of most cities and towns. Looting, rioting, the burning of cars and buildings and people, all of it had already happened.” As they make their way west across the country, they encounter fellow travelers ranging from close-knit families to free-spirited hippies, some of whom have come to terms with the impending end of the world and others who haven’t. While the story seems to be asking readers what they would do if they had 30 days left to live, and reflects on what different kinds of acceptance might look like in the face of unavoidable tragedy, it loses some of its poignancy in a series of thinly padded monologues about the meaning of life. Clearly intended to pack an emotional punch, it’s failed by an abrupt ending, and the way the journey’s mystery—which will be obvious to many readers—is revealed by an info dump in the last chapter.
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781250881236
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
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