A deeply emotional historical novel tackling race and queerness in early-20th-century America.
In Stuart’s historical novel, a Black man in segregated Kentucky cares for the white daughter of the family for whom he works.
In the 1930s in the town of Horse Cave, Black residents live in the neighborhood of Kingdom, across the train tracks from white townspeople. Paul Carew, the son of Baptist preacher Elijah, spends his time with his neighbor and best friend, Moses Daniels, or helping his mother, Lily, cook, clean, and care for his younger siblings. Elijah is tough on Paul, berating his “delicate” gender expression, while Paul despises Elijah for not helping Lily with any of her work around the house. One day, while his family is participating in church-related events, Paul sneaks home to put on one of Lily’s dresses and her makeup. While he’s dancing alone, Elijah surprises him and becomes enraged, stripping Paul and beating him with his belt before Lily arrives home and intervenes. Paul’s life changes drastically when his cousin Lorene, who works for a wealthy white family, gets him a job alongside her to keep him away from Elijah’s anger. Sally and Walter Jackson hire him to cook with Lorene and work in Sally’s garden. When the Jacksons welcome a new granddaughter, Jane, Paul is given the responsibility to care for the child, sending the protagonist on an emotional journey that takes a turn during D-Day on June 6, 1944. Throughout Stuart’s novel, Paul effectively grapples with gender identity and with his unorthodox connections to whiteness and privilege through his position with the Jackson family. In author’s notes, Stuart, who is white, and Flower, a Black author, tell of how they came to co-write the story, and Stuart reveals that the novel offers a version of her own life, employing fictionalized aspects to tell the story from the main character’s distinct point of view. The authors imbue Paul’s voice with emotion and grace, crafting a moving story of a courageous person in a difficult time.
A deeply emotional historical novel tackling race and queerness in early-20th-century America.Pub Date: Nov. 23, 2024
ISBN: 9781736458310
Page Count: 376
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: April 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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
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