Fawkes shines a light on women troublemakers through time in this dazzling feminist tale.
In 1862, Sylvie Swift leaves the Kentucky farm where she was raised with her twin brother, Silas, for Nashville, where her life takes an otherworldly turn.
Following her older sister Marina’s abrupt departure years before and Silas’ decision to join the Confederate army, Sylvie finds herself alone. When an obscure play called Apocrypha mysteriously shows up on her doorstep, she begins translating it from ancient Greek. As the project develops, she begins to feel compelled to track down the anonymous sender of the script. Her instinct takes her to Nashville, which is entirely different from her bucolic home. Against the backdrop of a city struggling to control a syphilis outbreak, feed the poor, and fund the Civil War, Sylvie meets Evangeline Price, the proprietor of a brothel whose clientele includes politicians, military officers, and high-society gentlemen—and who has a curious connection to Marina. Eventually it becomes clear that there’s far more going on at Evangeline’s establishment—and, indeed, in Nashville—than it appears. As Sylvie’s translation takes shape with the help of Evangeline’s multitalented workforce, she begins to make connections between the Ephesus of the play (inspired by Aristophanes’ Lysistrata) and the Nashville underworld she becomes increasingly tangled up in—finding parallels between the Greek women (mortals and gods alike) seeking to undermine the male violence surrounding them and the women of the American South. Based on the true story of Nashville’s attempt to exile its prostitutes during the Civil War, Fawkes’ novel layers found texts—including journal entries, letters, and play scenes—to create an enchanting, immersive narrative interweaving the everyday with the fantastical and Civil War history with Greek mythology. She prompts us to question familiar notions of history and reminds us of the quiet, adaptable power of women through the ages. Sylvie learns the often-dangerous ancient ways of female rebellion but is preoccupied not by the peril of her situation, but by the absence of Marina, whose presence she feels everywhere. A riot of lust, secrets, gods, and mythical creatures make this a thoroughly entertaining novel, rich in detail and lavish prose.
Fawkes shines a light on women troublemakers through time in this dazzling feminist tale.Pub Date: July 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781419772474
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Overlook
Review Posted Online: July 10, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
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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