A touching novel about unexpected connections and found family.
The mother of an autistic high school student forms a bond with a college swimmer as they deal with varied challenges.
Berry Selinger is the vice principal at a prestigious private school where she’s hoping to be promoted to principal now that her boss is retiring. But at home, things are strained. She’s a fierce advocate for her autistic son, Leo Becker, but as he gets older and his needs change, she’s not sure she’s making the right decisions. Also, Berry worries about her husband’s secrecy and no longer feels they’re on the same page about Leo’s care. When she learns about an opportunity for Leo to be a teacher’s assistant at a swim class for autistic kids, she’s hopeful that it will help him come out of his shell and learn to swim at the same time. It’s there that Leo meets McKenna Jamison, a college student on a swim scholarship who’s teaching the class. Between spending long hours in the pool and working hard in class to meet the requirements of her scholarship, McKenna is at her breaking point—and then her grandmother, her only family member, moves into a memory care facility. McKenna’s taken the teaching gig as a way to get community service hours for her scholarship, but she soon finds that she likes working with kids. She even forms a friendship with Leo, who otherwise struggles to connect with people outside his family. But when McKenna runs into difficulties with school and her job, their connection—as well as her financial stability—is threatened. Although the story is told from Berry’s and McKenna’s perspectives, Leo is the character bringing them together. His growth and change are paramount, and he feels like a real person, not a token. In her author’s note, Friedland writes that her interest in autism came from her mother, who was a pioneer in autism teaching and research. As Friedland puts it, “Every child deserves to be seen, to be challenged, and most of all, to be respected and understood.”
A touching novel about unexpected connections and found family.Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2026
ISBN: 9781400347339
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Harper Muse
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2026
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
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.
With only a month left until the world ends due to a swiftly approaching black hole, Don and Rodney, a retired gay couple, road-trip from Maine to Washington to spend their final days with their son.
After reports that a planet-swallowing black hole is making its way toward Earth, Rodney and Don—who have been together for 40 years and survived everything from homophobia to the HIV crisis—decide to pack their belongings into an RV, say goodbye to their neighbors, and travel from Camden, Maine, to Washington to uphold a promise to spend their final days with their son. They can’t wait any longer, since there’s already chaos around the country: “Military vehicles in the streets of most cities and towns. Looting, rioting, the burning of cars and buildings and people, all of it had already happened.” As they make their way west across the country, they encounter fellow travelers ranging from close-knit families to free-spirited hippies, some of whom have come to terms with the impending end of the world and others who haven’t. While the story seems to be asking readers what they would do if they had 30 days left to live, and reflects on what different kinds of acceptance might look like in the face of unavoidable tragedy, it loses some of its poignancy in a series of thinly padded monologues about the meaning of life. Clearly intended to pack an emotional punch, it’s failed by an abrupt ending, and the way the journey’s mystery—which will be obvious to many readers—is revealed by an info dump in the last chapter.
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781250881236
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
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