Equal parts funny and insightful, this is a propulsive exploration of gender identity, sexuality, and self-discovery.
Two teenagers wrestle with friendship and attraction at a New York City private school in this hilarious and sexy debut.
In the early 2000s, Nell and Fay are best friends at Idlewild, a private Quaker school in lower Manhattan. Nell “is good at numbers and homework,” while Fay “is good at having big tits and being the boss.” Together they form the “F&N unit,” and for most of senior year, they move through the school with a sense of urgent inseparability. Under the surface, though, are unspoken tensions—like the fact that shy, sincere Nell has a massive crush on brash, confident Fay. Whereas Nell is out, Fay’s sexuality remains mysterious and elusive. In class, Fay is known for passionately arguing that literature from The Great Gatsby to Othello is full of “HoYay,” an internet term meaning “Homoeroticism: Yay!” Fay’s fantasies about gayness, what qualities attract and excite her, are explored with subtlety, precision, and originality, even as they are likely to feel relatable to many readers. While in the process of naming her desires, Fay’s vacillation between frustration and exhilaration is movingly conjured on the page. Everything changes when Fay and Nell befriend two sophomore boys: the enigmatic, erratic Theo and his puppy-doggish friend and roommate, Christopher. At first, Fay is fascinated by the boys’ friendship, living arrangement, and possible sexual chemistry—but soon, Fay’s interest shifts specifically to Theo, who seems to understand parts of Fay that no one else has. Narrated in turns by the adult Nell and Fay, looking back at their Idlewild years, and the royal “we” of the F&N unit in 2002, the novel bursts with voice, skillfully conjuring both the easy banter of best friends on AIM and the ruminating uncertainty of adolescence.
Equal parts funny and insightful, this is a propulsive exploration of gender identity, sexuality, and self-discovery.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9781419769146
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Overlook
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.
A French art historian’s English-language fiction debut combines the story of a loving relationship between a grandfather and granddaughter with an enlightening discussion of art.
One day, when 10-year-old Mona removes the necklace given to her by her now-dead grandmother, she experiences a frightening, hour-long bout of blindness. Her parents take her to the doctor, who gives her a variety of tests and also advises that she see a psychiatrist. Her grandfather Henry tells her parents that he will take care of that assignment, but instead, he takes Mona on weekly visits to either the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Centre Pompidou, where each week they study a single work of art, gazing at it deeply and then discussing its impact and history and the biography of its maker. For the reader’s benefit, Schlesser also describes each of the works in scrupulous detail. As the year goes on, Mona faces the usual challenges of elementary school life and the experiences of being an only child, and slowly begins to understand the causes of her temporary blindness. Primarily an amble through a few dozen of Schlesser’s favorite works of art—some well known and others less so, from Botticelli and da Vinci through Basquiat and Bourgeois—the novel would probably benefit from being read at a leisurely pace. While the dialogue between Henry and the preternaturally patient and precocious Mona sometimes strains credulity, readers who don’t have easy access to the museums of Paris may enjoy this vicarious trip in the company of a guide who focuses equally on that which can be seen and the context that can’t be. Come for the novel, stay for the introductory art history course.
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798889661115
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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
SEEN & HEARD
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