Atmospheric and entertaining, generously peppered with historical tidbits.
In Honegger’s historical novel, a young 18th-century Englishwoman visits the colonies and finds herself in sympathy with the colonists’ desire for freedom.
It is fall in 1777, and 19-year-old Mary Hannah André is restless, “tired of being nothing but a pretty doll, a flirtatious distraction for the men she [encounters] at parties.” Chafing against the constraints of English society and familial expectations that she find a suitable husband, Mary convinces her mother to let her journey to the colonies to visit her brother, John, a British officer stationed in Philadelphia. Once there, she begins to venture out on her own and observes the capricious and brutal British mistreatment of the colonists. One morning, following an argument with John, she rises early and dresses comfortably for a solitary ride into the countryside to sort out her thoughts. Thus begins an unanticipated adventure that will change her life. Lost during a snowstorm, she comes across a battlefield strewn with mutilated colonial bodies. She is then set upon by two Redcoat deserters, one of whom slashes her thigh while attempting to rape her. Fortunately, she is rescued by Major Benjamin Tallmadge, of the Second Continental Light Dragoons, and taken to the Continental Army camp, where she remains under Tallmadge’s protection, ultimately joining George Washington’s Culper Ring spy network. Honegger’s historical novel is both a love story and a tale of espionage, painting vivid portraits of high society in Philadelphia under British rule and of the harsh, impoverished conditions in the Continental Army encampments. Her prose carries the lilt of a romance novel—from time to time, she strays into such effusive metaphoric constructions as: “She breathed the words, chewing on them in her mouth before swallowing them into her memory.” Honegger’s fanciful, hypothetical version of Mary André—who, historically, was indeed the sister of Captain John André in King George’s army—is a spirited, engaging protagonist, bringing readers directly into the intriguing spy games and up close to the colonial luminaries of the day.
Atmospheric and entertaining, generously peppered with historical tidbits.Pub Date: July 4, 2024
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Quill and Flame
Review Posted Online: April 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PERSPECTIVES
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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