A story of female freedom and constraints that doesn’t shy away from the trauma—and joy—that faced U.S. women in the 1950s.
Four 18-year-old girls spend a year at Radcliffe College in the autumn of 1955, exploring books as they plan for their futures.
When Tess Collins arrives at Radcliffe for her first year of college on a scholarship, she is thrilled at the opportunity to make her own future and get away from her constantly arguing parents and fighting brothers in Ohio. She might not have much money, but she has plenty of plans about how she will be top of her class. Her roommate, Caroline Hanson, is her polar opposite: gorgeous, wealthy, fun-loving, and generous with her time and possessions. The pair become friends with the young women in the adjoining room: Evie Miller, a boy-crazy farmer’s daughter with a mostly steady boyfriend from back home in New York, and Merritt Weber, the artistically inclined daughter of an academic father in San Francisco whose mother died when she was 15. The story follows them as they join a book club run by Alice Campbell, a once-married woman from Chicago determined to find her own way in life by running a small bookstore in Cambridge. The women read a variety of books as Alice pushes them to think deeply about what it has meant to be a (White) woman across the centuries and how, while much might have changed when it came to (White) women’s rights, there was still much that hadn’t. Rather than being a book about nothing of importance—as Mark Twain said of Emma, a book from their book club—this is a book in which (after a slow start) the women experience joy and tragedy as they try to figure out who they are, what they stand for, and what their futures might hold. Themes of bullying, alcoholism, wealth disparity, (White) women’s rights, assault, and rape are all addressed.
A story of female freedom and constraints that doesn’t shy away from the trauma—and joy—that faced U.S. women in the 1950s.Pub Date: June 6, 2023
ISBN: 9781728248578
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
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
SEEN & HEARD
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.
A French art historian’s English-language fiction debut combines the story of a loving relationship between a grandfather and granddaughter with an enlightening discussion of art.
One day, when 10-year-old Mona removes the necklace given to her by her now-dead grandmother, she experiences a frightening, hour-long bout of blindness. Her parents take her to the doctor, who gives her a variety of tests and also advises that she see a psychiatrist. Her grandfather Henry tells her parents that he will take care of that assignment, but instead, he takes Mona on weekly visits to either the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Centre Pompidou, where each week they study a single work of art, gazing at it deeply and then discussing its impact and history and the biography of its maker. For the reader’s benefit, Schlesser also describes each of the works in scrupulous detail. As the year goes on, Mona faces the usual challenges of elementary school life and the experiences of being an only child, and slowly begins to understand the causes of her temporary blindness. Primarily an amble through a few dozen of Schlesser’s favorite works of art—some well known and others less so, from Botticelli and da Vinci through Basquiat and Bourgeois—the novel would probably benefit from being read at a leisurely pace. While the dialogue between Henry and the preternaturally patient and precocious Mona sometimes strains credulity, readers who don’t have easy access to the museums of Paris may enjoy this vicarious trip in the company of a guide who focuses equally on that which can be seen and the context that can’t be. Come for the novel, stay for the introductory art history course.
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798889661115
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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