A frequently thrilling, sometimes slow tale that doesn’t shy away from thorny issues.
In this debut literary novel, a diplomat searches for a missing journalist in Africa.
Diplomat Joe Kellerman serves at the American Embassy in Umbika, a fictional country in East Africa undergoing a period of political unrest. He and his co-workers have just learned that they must play host to rabble-rousing American columnist Maurice Hightower, the “most popular black journalist ever.” Hightower has been accusing the current American administration—including Kellerman and his colleagues—of supporting the rebels in Umbika to undermine the country’s “Life President,” strongman J.J. Mulenga. “The rebels steal the food you send, but Umbikans are told it’s the Life President who’s doing it,” claims Hightower after he has landed. “Washington gets high-and-mighty about human rights and says it’s time for the Life President to step down. Tricksters in Washington have done this before. They’ve done it all over the world.” Kellerman is expected to show Hightower around so he can see that nothing is amiss in America’s behavior, but when the journalist takes a side trip on his own and disappears, the diplomat is tasked with finding him. Kellerman’s hunt for the strong-willed man—whose angry claims challenge everything the diplomat believes about Africa and America—turns into a quest to find something even trickier: a deeper understanding of his own presence in Umbika. Elzinga’s economic prose captures the pragmatic, slightly annoyed disposition of Kellerman, the narrator, who regards Umbika with a mix of admiration, frustration, and detachment. Hightower is the diplomat’s perfect foil and succeeds in baiting Kellerman into espousing impatience for ideas of systemic racism: “ ‘I’ve read your column,’ I said, feeling free to say anything on my mind. ‘I know what you think about white people. I know why you’re here.’ ‘Then you know I didn’t come here to find white folks to argue with. I came here to find the truth.’ ‘The truth? Ha. Slavery ended a hundred years ago. That’s the truth.’ ” Kellerman’s responsibilities as a foreign service officer—enumerated in great detail—are both grounding and immersive. The book has its lulls, but it represents an intriguing and often exciting update on the diplomatic novels of the 20th century.
A frequently thrilling, sometimes slow tale that doesn’t shy away from thorny issues.Pub Date: May 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-9992194-7-8
Page Count: 344
Publisher: Water's Edge Press LLC
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 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
SEEN & HEARD
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
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