A sensitively conceived, well-written book that will dazzle lovers of historical family intrigue.
A boy’s summer on an Illinois farm gives him memories to last a lifetime in Blois’ historical novel.
It’s 1917, and Will Parlor, from Pittsburgh, is sent with his parents’ blessing to spend a summer working on the Helgevelds’ large and prosperous farm in central Illinois. The Helgevelds are salt of the earth; they hire a bunch of boys every summer to earn money and hopefully learn the virtues of hard work. Others are two Black boys, Isaiah and Moses Butler from Alabama, and Roy March, the requisite rotten apple. Roy is lazy, sneaky, and hate-filled. The Butler boys are a real boon because their granddad has taught them how to fix practically anything. Alwin, the oldest Helgeveld son, is essentially the foreman, no-nonsense but fair; Vlinder is his beautiful and wise younger sister, and eventually she and Will fall in love. There is happiness and also tragedy along the way. At summer’s end, Will vows to Vlinder to come back next year. But then life, as they say, happens—like the Spanish flu and the death of Will’s brother and father, so Will has to be the man in the family and take over the family’s feed and supply stores. The years roll by and successes and failures come and go. But always in Will’s heart there are “bits of emptiness that…resurface unannounced.” Then one day in 1949, on a busy street in Chicago, Will sees a young woman—someone who conjures up old memories—from across the street who will change his life forever. This is a compulsively readable feel-good novel and an impressively written debut (and Blois hints at more to come). Is there too much wish fulfillment here? Maybe. Will Vlinder and Will live happily ever after? Whatever the case, the reader will be riveted throughout.
A sensitively conceived, well-written book that will dazzle lovers of historical family intrigue.Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2025
ISBN: 9798999265302
Page Count: 310
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
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
Though uneven, this is still a pleasurable, comforting read.
Infertility, family secrets, and alpacas all figure in Quindlen’s latest meditation on mothering and domesticity.
Polly’s life looks enviable. Happily married to the adoring Mark—a vet at the Bronx Zoo—she teaches English at a private Manhattan girls’ school and loves her work. She has a protective older brother and close girlfriends, who’ve formed a book club where no one is expected to read the book. But Polly desperately wants a child and, at 42, knows time is running out. She and Mark have gone through endless fertility treatments, to no avail. Meantime, Polly’s friends have given her a DNA kit as a jokey birthday gift, and something mysterious shows up in the test results. Then, out of nowhere, a young woman contacts her, suggesting they may be related. That’s not all: Polly feels estranged from her mother, a revered judge who’s insufficiently maternal in her daughter’s view. Her father has always cherished her, but he’s in a nursing home now with a rapidly failing mind. And something is amiss with her best pal, Sarah. Quindlen’s trademark empathy is evident throughout, and her wry humor leavens some of the serious goings-on. Early on, Mark and Polly visit a fertility clinic with photos of babies in the waiting room; for Polly, “it felt…like a Weight Watchers facility with hot fudge sundae pictures on the wall.” Then we meet these charming alpacas, humming and pronking, on a farm run by an earth mother, whose wisdom will help Polly get on with her life. The plot swerves around a bit, there may be one surplus narrative thread (e.g., Polly’s star student Josephine running aground after graduation), and at the end, the author ties things up too neatly, pushing the “circle of life” theme too hard.
Though uneven, this is still a pleasurable, comforting read.Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2026
ISBN: 9780593734605
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
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