Rousing historical fiction with a feminist bent.
In Andrews’ historical novel, an American journalist faces misogyny as she travels to cover American soldiers fighting in the Great War.
Alice Simmons, a young reporter from St. Paul, Minnesota, follows her mentor, Ira Cunningham, to Paris to write about the ongoing war in 1918. (The novel’s action takes place over the course of that year’s summer, when United States troops began to arrive in Europe.) As a female journalist, Alice is repeatedly blocked from covering serious matters, while her male colleagues are able to leave Paris and report from the front lines. After she fights off an assault by her commanding officers, Maj. Richard Martel and Capt. Ralph Buck, Ira convinces her to join his daughter Trudy (who is Alice’s childhood best friend) as a nurse in the hospital. While she has always aspired to be a reporter, Alice was convinced to go to school for nursing as a backup career option; she excelled, partly due to her parents’ medical careers and the access that came with them. At the hospital, Alice faces more roadblocks when she discovers her credentials will need to be sent for before she can fully enlist as an Army nurse—she must work as an aide until they arrive. The head nurse, Marion Pickler, has a strong prejudice against aides, and, regardless of the fact that Alice is actually a nurse, is harsh and abusive toward her, along with the other aides (“Well, I can’t keep you out of this hospital, but you’re not welcome here”). Alice’s standing becomes even more dire when Martel and Buck take revenge by accusing her of espionage. In spite of everything, Alice cheerfully tends to the wounded soldiers in her care. Andrews writes the two narrators’ voices distinctively, making it easy to tell whether it’s the young, passionate, and optimistic Alice or the hardened and pessimistic (yet still idealistic) Ira who is speaking. Though most characters in the novel are men, Alice has plenty of her own agency and tends to save herself rather than wait for someone to save her, making her an engaging and powerful character. Fans of inspiring war narratives will find much to love in this novel.
Rousing historical fiction with a feminist bent.Pub Date: Nov. 9, 2023
ISBN: 9798989383559
Page Count: 326
Publisher: 46 North Publications
Review Posted Online: Nov. 14, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
