A queer Chinese Indonesian tear-jerker: a winning combination.
A grandmother reveals the secret of her long-ago forbidden love.
In a near-future Jakarta, Indonesia, secretly gay teenager Izzy Chen doesn’t fit into her society-conscious family. Her grandmother Magnolia, the family’s matriarch, knows the story of her own hidden life will help Izzy blossom, so she unfurls her saga. In mid-1990s Jakarta, Magnolia is the obedient daughter, a stark contrast to her rebellious older sister, Iris. The two are sent to Los Angeles for college, where they grapple with the residue of their rigid upbringing: What does it mean to be a good Chindo—ethnically Chinese from Indonesia—girl? On her first day of class, Magnolia meets a girl named Ellery O’Shea, and everything she thought she wanted—a respectable boy and her parents’ approval—disappears in the face of real love. Ellery is openly queer, but Magnolia always thought of herself as straight. The two are in love but keep their feelings hidden, and then Ellery goes to London. Returning to Jakarta, Magnolia falls in line: marries a man named Parker, sets up house, and secretly writes Ellery heart-wrenching letters she never sends. The novel offers a biting examination of a traditional patriarchy in the Chindo community, its status-driven social scene and a culture less tolerant of queer lives. As such, Magnolia finds it easier to conform than to question. Meanwhile, Iris becomes a tech trailblazer in Jakarta, but when she becomes pregnant by an abuser, she returns to LA followed by Magnolia and Parker. And who should be there waiting to stir everything up but Ellery? Sex, tragedy, and vindication follow. This is at times a frothy rom-com, at others an absorbing portrait of South Asian women hemmed in by impossible expectations.
A queer Chinese Indonesian tear-jerker: a winning combination.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9780593816875
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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 dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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