A moving fictional depiction of collective movement through hardship.
Harrington’s debut novel explores an expanding web of relationships in modern-day Appalachia.
The novel opens onto loss, the precise nature of which is only revealed obliquely. Addressing her absent husband, John, Leda lyrically describes her deep attachment to her newly adopted canine and her attunement to the waxing and waning seasons. It’s only gradually that readers come to realize what happened to him. As she grapples with the effects of his absence, Leda fills her days by ministering to the needs of others: her dog, her goats (whose caprices take on delightfully human characterization), and a precocious writing student with a tendency toward self-harm. Perhaps most consequential are the Sullivans, a family dealing with the environmental fallout of coal mining, to whom Leda, as a volunteer with the local food bank, develops close bonds. Rather than remaining fixated on Leda’s search for closure, the book opens up to explore a constellation of characters, landscapes, and histories. As it progresses through a series of vignettes that could each stand alone, the novel is propelled by the rhythms of natural and human life cycles. The shaping force of the land and its nonhuman inhabitants is central, as when a Sullivan ancestor finds himself in the Blue Ridge Mountains: “his heart had kept pace with wave against shore, wave against shore, his blood coursing with the rhythm of the Ballydonegan River.” At times, it recalls the work of authors such as Annie Dillard and Barbara Kingsolver. Although a number of specters haunt the novel—suicide, the aftereffects of the war in Iraq, environmental degradation, and even the Irish Potato Famine—it also explores the healing potential of domestic rituals, queer love, and communities formed through music and activism.
A moving fictional depiction of collective movement through hardship.Pub Date: June 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-944467-25-8
Page Count: 284
Publisher: Brighthorse Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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