A warmhearted, entertaining, and recognizable family saga.
In Basran’s novel, emotions run high as families prepare for an extravagant wedding.
An ornately bordered, two-page-spread invitation opens this novel about the impact of a lavish wedding on two extended Punjabi immigrant families in British Columbia, Canada. The bride, Devi Dosanjh, is a high-strung perfectionist who has helped to rebrand her parents’ produce business; her fiancé, Nanak “Baby” Atwal, the namesake of his family’s candy shop, is an easygoing people-pleaser who has just finished medical school. The wedding plans are extravagant—there is a week-long series of events leading up to the big day, a thousand expected guests, a DJ flown in from Mumbai, a signature cocktail, and Swarovski crystals and gold decorating the bride’s garments. The exhaustive preparations have consumed the participants, straining emotions and finances (both families have recently overextended their businesses); almost everyone is putting up a good front while harboring secret misgivings. As the wedding date approaches, Devi flirts by text with her brother’s bad-boy friend Jessie, and Baby has a hard time recalling exactly what it is he loves about Devi. Are these warning signs, or just normal prenuptial jitters? Basran writes with vivid eloquence: One man’s “entire demeanour was a mouse-like apology,” another is “a hand talker, conducting and directing the conversation.” The leads are both flawed and endearing, and their relationship feels realistic. The interplay of multiple perspectives creates depth as chapters move between multiple points of view, including those of the young couple, their friends and relatives, and the wedding stylist and photographer. The author’s skillful interweaving of themes and connected backstories makes for a compelling narrative. Basran deftly highlights the ways in which each generation affects the others and how all are concerned about keeping up appearances, from guests engineering Instagram-ready moments to a woman “acting disappointed when all she felt was relief.” The novel also offers astute social observations (people “[heart] posts as if it meant something”; “People had put love on a checklist; it was a task, something to execute”) and keen insights into traditional gender roles.
A warmhearted, entertaining, and recognizable family saga.Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781771624169
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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