A big-hearted consideration of gentrification and the erosion of time.
In Green’s satirical novel, a colorful Atlanta journalist covers a chaotic summer in his embattled neighborhood.
Archie Johnson is not God, though people call him that. The nickname has to do with his flowing silvery mane, long white beard, unplaceable ethnicity, and big personality. The freelance journalist writes primarily for the Atlanta Beacon, but he’s obliged to take any work he can find to keep his ancient home from falling apart. God inherited the Queen Anne–style house from his racist white grandfather, who allowed the property to fall into ruin after fleeing for the suburbs decades ago. That the house sits in the heart of the now predominantly Black neighborhood of Sweetberry Park is just a happy irony. God—a light-skinned man with one-quarter Nigerian ancestry—sees himself as both scribe and protector of Sweetberry Park, a role that has renewed his life’s purpose following the long-ago tragic death of his wife and young son. God has his work cut out for him in the summer of 2018 as the neighborhood is beset not only by a new project from millionaire developer Lawrence “Lotto” Livingston, but also by a literal plague of snakes—the 17 deadliest species available at the nearby zoo, released into the neighborhood by a deranged zookeeper. With the help of a former blues singer with deep roots in the neighborhood, can God save some of Atlanta’s history—and his own—from getting erased? Green’s voice-forward prose, as narrated by God, is inflected with enthusiasm and regret for what Atlanta was, is, and will become. He bemoans sitting in traffic on the “fifty-lane freeway monster of perpetual immobility, our city’s source of constant constipation,” remembering when he was a boy, when they “laughed at its unbridled fattening and the notion that people from exotic places like Jersey City, Portland, and Topeka would ever consider migrating to our baby metropolis.” Atlanta residents will get the most out of this hyperlocalized story, but the issues Green’s tale touches upon—housing, race, migration, grief, and the changing face of cities—are familiar all over.
A big-hearted consideration of gentrification and the erosion of time.Pub Date: March 21, 2025
ISBN: 9781958861523
Page Count: 364
Publisher: The Sager Group LLC
Review Posted Online: May 21, 2025
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
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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