A gritty, memorable look at lesser-known struggles that followed the end of the Civil War.
Means’ historical novel follows a group of Civil War POWs.
Corporal George Ethridge is a Union soldier who winds up spending nearly the last two years of the Civil War in an Alabama prison camp. Conditions in the camp, called Cahaba, are dire: The grounds are prone to flooding, rations are meager, and the prison guards will shoot anyone who ventures into the wrong area. At least George has some company in his suffering—he and some others from the Indiana 66th Volunteer Infantry, including his uncle and little brother, manage to stick together. They call themselves the Muncie men, and though they make it to the end of the war, that hardly means an end to their struggle; they still have to get home. George has pledged to ensure that they do. Along the way, they must grapple with hostile Southerners and an infrastructure that’s been battered by four years of conflict (“nothing would be safe for months and months to come”). By the time the group arrives in Vicksburg in April of 1865, they have a new problem: The vessel that’s supposed to transport them up the Mississippi is the Sultana, a steamboat that will be remembered for its tragic end. The narrative effectively brings to life aspects of the Civil War that occurred off the battlefield—for instance, Sherman’s March to the Sea includes sabotaging rail lines by bending them in a certain way (“Sherman had marched with 10,000 men specially trained to do just that”). Means ably dramatizes how the act of simply getting prisoners of war repatriated was no simple or safe task, as evidenced by the horrors George and company encounter when they see men being transported from the infamous Andersonville Prison. The resolute Muncie men and the foreboding task that lies before them will keep readers eagerly turning the pages.
A gritty, memorable look at lesser-known struggles that followed the end of the Civil War.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2026
ISBN: 9781958861868
Page Count: 290
Publisher: The Sager Group LLC
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2026
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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