A work of morbid humor that whistles past the cemetery gates.
In Boyles’ novel set in 1975, one-acre subdivisions start popping up Springfield, North Carolina, affecting everyone’s lives.
The trouble starts when young Jasper Springfield, who’s eager to shed his farming dad’s limited worldview, decides to head off to college and sell approximately 44.86 acres of the old family homestead to developers. That decision paves the way for a new, massive housing development called Springfield Estates. The rural folk don’t like what’s happening and have a hard time comprehending it: “And can you imagine living packed together like sardines in a can, all jammed up beside each other like this?” one townsperson says. There are deeper concepts afoot in Boyles’ short vignettes. Each character grapples with profound issues of loss and decay; they live in loveless marriages, mourn their vanishing youth, contend with injuries and illnesses, or even contemplate ending it all. Boyles joins a rich tradition of writers examining the human impact of so-called progress in a wry, folksy manner that’s reminiscent of a bygone style of American literature. He sets the tone early with a look at Clara and Ellis Hienkle, the “only living couple in Springfield that was totally prepared for their death.” Ellis decides to buy a cemetery plot out near Highway 72; he views this purchase as pragmatic, but his wife Clara just views it as a “constant reminder for all the world to see that someday she would be going over to her eternal rest.” Sadly, a few of the townsfolk can’t wait for that rest to come, and that tragic reality informs Boyles’ suggestive title, which subtly evokes his playful approach to dark themes. However, although he’s clearly enjoying the comedy of adulterers seriously injuring themselves after a “quick leap out the window into the brick-lined flowerbed,” among other absurdities, readers may find it hard to maintain a smile amid the melancholia—but, this author seems to say, such is life.
A work of morbid humor that whistles past the cemetery gates.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2024
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
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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