A lyrical and imaginative, if occasionally overwrought, exploration of Keats.
The dying John Keats examines his life in this literary novel.
Though he’s now remembered as one of the great English Romantic poets, Keats saw little success in his short lifetime. In 1821, he died of tuberculosis in Rome at the age of 25. The tombstone erected by his friends explains that on his deathbed, he desired “in the Bitterness of his Heart / at the Malicious Power of his Enemies” only these words: “Here lies One whose Name was writ in Water.” Taking its cue from this poignant epitaph, the novel dissects the reasons behind Keats’ bitterness through a life review conducted with the nightingale that inspired the famous “Ode.” At issue is the universe’s judgment of Keats, the nightingale acting as a spirit guide. By revisiting important people (such as his brother, Tom, and fiancee, Fanny Brawne) and events in his life, Keats observes his vices and virtues weighed in the balance. On one side of the scale is the poet’s heavy sense of failure from bad reviews, painful memories, poverty, guilt, and unrealized goals. On the other side, the scale is lightened not just by Keats’ poems, but also by his acts of kindness, one of which links back to the nightingale. In his previous novel, The Voice at the Door (2013), Sulzer also drew on a poet’s biography (Emily Dickinson’s). The empyreal-plane setting matches the fey quality of many Keats poems, underscored by the book’s dreamlike vignettes and heightened language. The story’s drama can lead to some rather purple prose, as in “Misery and loyalty were the twin channel markers of those dark waters where my soul had begun to sound the depths,” but these are balanced by more down-to-earth passages and quotations from Keats’ poems and letters.
A lyrical and imaginative, if occasionally overwrought, exploration of Keats.Pub Date: April 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73303-442-5
Page Count: 186
Publisher: Fuze Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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 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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
