A sometimes-poignant but disjointed effort.
A novel that offers a fictionalized account of the author’s mother’s life, which includes a fight against addiction.
Ginny Thorndike wants to leave her husband, Joe, as she has been having an affair with Rich, a handsome surgeon with whom she’s more sexually compatible; the two often enjoy being in “the Mode” together—their name for the BDSM aspects of their relationship. Ginny can’t imagine living without Rich and the pleasure her gives her, so she asks Joe for a divorce, and after quickly writing explanatory notes to her two teenage sons, she flies to Miami to live with her lover. After Rich arrives in Miami, however, he quickly and tersely dumps her, seemingly out of nowhere. She feels unmoored and flies to Cuba, where Rich grew up. Meanwhile, her eldest son, Jamie, goes missing in a New Hampshire snowstorm; Ginny returns home and senses that something is amiss, and she believes that her son may have staged his disappearance. Later, after traveling to South America with the Peace Corps and settling into a new job back home, she suffers from depression and a dependence on alcohol and pills. Set largely in the 1960s, save for some moments from Ginny’s past, Thorndike’s story occasionally features well-known historical events to provide context, such as the Stonewall riots and increasing “tensions…between Kennedy and Castro.” His prose is most successful when exploring Ginny’s memories, such as her fondness for a former diving coach in spite of the inappropriate nature of their relationship and the moment where she recalls the problems of her first marriage: “She stepped out of her dress and underwear and went in for a swim…and when she came out he held her dress behind his back…punishing her for being free.” The plot does ramble somewhat, as it does not have a very clear beginning, middle, and end. This may be a function of its being based on a real person’s life, although much of it is imagined; still, the work might have benefited from a more direct and streamlined plot.
A sometimes-poignant but disjointed effort.Pub Date: April 25, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-9994457-4-7
Page Count: 306
Publisher: Beck & Branch Publishers
Review Posted Online: Aug. 6, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
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