A quietly moving portrait of an unexpected family.
In Viehl’s novel, a single mother takes care of her nephew when her sister travels to Germany to find herself.
Rainey Morgan is a 34-year-old widow living in Portland, Oregon. Accustomed to her grief in the years since her husband died, she spends her time seeing her boyfriend Pete, taking a weekly class to hone her skills as a commercial artist, and tending to her preteen daughter Shiloh, who has trouble with her school and the law. Rainey has a complex relationship with her sister Leah, an accomplished marine biologist who seems to outshine her. As Rainey notes early on in the story, “In the family constellation, I had been the replacement child…it was Leah’s job to move the needle.” One day, Leah decides to go to Germany on an adventure and asks Rainey to care for her 7-year-old son Caleb during her trip. Though Caleb is sweet, and Rainey connects with him easily, he struggles with the absence of his mother, certain that she will not return. After a psychological evaluation, Caleb is diagnosed with an “extra-normal affect”; essentially, he has trouble connecting with people and is prone to moods. Sadly, this condition only intensifies after tragedy strikes the family. When Rainey is offered a position at an art symposium in Italy, she must consider her desires for herself and her responsibilities to Shiloh and Caleb. Viehl’s prose is strong; her story of familial drama (which includes moments of humor) flows along with great pacing and language that is evocative without feeling overly ornate. (Rainey muses on Caleb’s being observed by psychiatrists: “I would prefer a bonfire, a full moon, an oak tree on a night when the fog lay on the mysterious land.”) Penetrating insights are peppered throughout, as when Rainey looks at an old photo of her mother and thinks to herself, “she is seductive and beautiful. I have no idea what happened to that woman. Where do women go?” Viehl’s sharp, emotional narrative feels believable and warm.
A quietly moving portrait of an unexpected family.Pub Date: June 1, 2024
ISBN: 9798892112956
Page Count: 262
Publisher: Dorrance Publishing Co.
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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 debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.
A high school senior pursues an affair with her teacher.
Seventeen-year-old Waldo, the narrator of McCurdy’s fiction debut, lives in Anchorage, Alaska, with her mother, though she’s long been the parent in their relationship. She heats her own frozen meals and pays the bills on time while her mom chases man after man and makes well-meaning promises she never keeps. Waldo blows her Victoria’s Secret wages on online shopping sprees and binges on junk food, inevitably crashing after the fleeting highs of her indulgences. Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher, has “thinning hair and nose pores”; he’s 40 years old and married with a child. Nevertheless—or possibly as a result?—Waldo’s attraction to him is “instant. So sudden it’s alarming. So palpable it’s confusing.” Mr. Korgy professes to want to keep their friendship aboveboard, but after a sexual encounter at the school’s winter formal that she initiates, an affair begins. Will this reckless pursuit be the one that actually satisfies Waldo, and is she as mature as she thinks she is? Waldo is a keen observer of people and provides sharp commentary on the punishing work of female beauty. Readers of McCurdy’s bestselling memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died (2022), will surely be curious about the tumultuous mother-daughter relationship, and it is one of the novel’s highlights, full of realistic pity and anger and need. (“I want to scream at her. I want her to hug me.”) Unfortunately, the prose is often unwieldy and sometimes downright cringeworthy: When Waldo tells Mr. Korgy she loves him, “The words hang in the air in that constipated way they do when you know that you shouldn’t have said them.” Waldo frequently lists emotions and adjectives in triplicate, and events that could be significant aren’t sufficiently explored or given enough space to breathe before the novel races on to the next thing.
A debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780593723739
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
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