Grief sharpens old conflicts among a cancer victim’s survivors in this poignant novel.
Life—the worst and best of it—goes on after a shocking death in this moving novel.
The story of a family coping with the death of a beloved middle-aged man could easily tip into mawkishness, but this assured first novel avoids that with a crisp pace, complex characters, and an unflinching depiction of how grief can blindside us. Rich is a schoolteacher who lives in rural Devon with his wife, Ruth, and their 10-year-old son, Ollie. Ruth’s irascible mother, Angran (toddler Ollie’s mashup of Angela and Grandma), and sister, Nessa, live nearby, which is a mixed blessing. When Rich is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, his impulse is to grab every bit of joy he has left and to let people know how much he loves them. Rich might face death bravely, but his family falls apart, all their long-simmering conflicts welling up like the bad drains in Angran’s decrepit cottage. Kline structures the book with short chapters that rotate among the points of view of Ruth, Nessa, Angran, Ollie, and Rich’s parents, Gerald and Marjorie. Ruth and Angran both struggle with depression; Ruth was more dependent on Rich than she realized, and Angran is deeply bitter still that she raised her daughters alone. Nessa is a take-charge schoolteacher whose close friendship with Rich long preceded his marriage to Ruth, and her battles with her mother and sister stretch back decades. Tenderhearted Marjorie is grappling not only with the loss of her son, but with her domineering husband’s descent into dementia. And Ollie, the center of the book and the only character whose chapters are written in the first person, is on the autism spectrum; his father was the main source of the stability he so deeply needs, and after Rich's death he’s both adrift and unable to express it except through his obsession with a list of gifts his father left to be distributed to his survivors. Kline captures the difficulty of navigating grief in its myriad forms, she finds mordant humor as well as tenderness in its domain, and she doesn’t shy from showing how it can bring out the worst in us as well as the best.
Grief sharpens old conflicts among a cancer victim’s survivors in this poignant novel.Pub Date: June 22, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-984854-90-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Dial Press
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
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
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