A compelling Southern tale about a found family and the power of place.
An enduring connection to a quail plantation lies at the heart of this novel set in the Red Hills of South Georgia.
In 1975, Angus Parker stops at a gas station in Thomasville, Georgia, where he meets a battered young woman named Grace and her son, who is “maybe eight years old.” Concerned, Angus offers her a job in the kitchen of his home, Horseshoe Hill Plantation, and, two days later, she arrives with her son, Luke. What follows is a sweeping story covering several decades of fighting to preserve this majestic land’s natural state, with Luke emerging as the main character as he and Grace leave his abusive father behind. At one point, Angus observes that Luke “loves the land as much as I do.” The tale traces Luke’s evolution, starting with a childhood that features the protagonist training a puppy to be a bird dog alongside his close friend Eugene, the son of the plantation’s wagon driver. Later, the story chronicles Luke’s adulthood, including his promotion to Horseshoe Hill manager after a devastating fire causes Angus to leave the area, having lost his wife and daughter. When Heather Harrison, vice president of the Rex Corporation—a company wanting to redevelop the area—arrives in town to purchase the plantation, sparks fly between her and Luke. Strickland effortlessly explores the clash of the old and new ways of life at Horseshoe Hill as well as cultural ties to the land, particularly through the Indigenous character of Joe Green. Green, an important presence at the plantation who talks about his Cherokee ancestors, reminds readers in a resounding way that “it’s bad luck when man tries to own the land.” But some parts of the tale seem rushed and other portions are a little wooden. While Luke’s bond with his childhood sweetheart, Annabelle (Angus’ daughter), is a bit abridged, his adult relationship with Heather sometimes feels stilted because of the labyrinthine storyline dealing with a land dispute involving Green. Yet the novel as a whole presents a beautiful tribute to a place that the author clearly loves, richly weaving a tapestry of complex relationships across many years.
A compelling Southern tale about a found family and the power of place.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 258
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2023
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 debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.
A high school senior pursues an affair with her teacher.
Seventeen-year-old Waldo, the narrator of McCurdy’s fiction debut, lives in Anchorage, Alaska, with her mother, though she’s long been the parent in their relationship. She heats her own frozen meals and pays the bills on time while her mom chases man after man and makes well-meaning promises she never keeps. Waldo blows her Victoria’s Secret wages on online shopping sprees and binges on junk food, inevitably crashing after the fleeting highs of her indulgences. Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher, has “thinning hair and nose pores”; he’s 40 years old and married with a child. Nevertheless—or possibly as a result?—Waldo’s attraction to him is “instant. So sudden it’s alarming. So palpable it’s confusing.” Mr. Korgy professes to want to keep their friendship aboveboard, but after a sexual encounter at the school’s winter formal that she initiates, an affair begins. Will this reckless pursuit be the one that actually satisfies Waldo, and is she as mature as she thinks she is? Waldo is a keen observer of people and provides sharp commentary on the punishing work of female beauty. Readers of McCurdy’s bestselling memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died (2022), will surely be curious about the tumultuous mother-daughter relationship, and it is one of the novel’s highlights, full of realistic pity and anger and need. (“I want to scream at her. I want her to hug me.”) Unfortunately, the prose is often unwieldy and sometimes downright cringeworthy: When Waldo tells Mr. Korgy she loves him, “The words hang in the air in that constipated way they do when you know that you shouldn’t have said them.” Waldo frequently lists emotions and adjectives in triplicate, and events that could be significant aren’t sufficiently explored or given enough space to breathe before the novel races on to the next thing.
A debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780593723739
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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