An intimate study of parenthood, sacrifice, and a fight for self-fulfillment.
Young’s novel presents a portrait of a woman unraveling amid the pressures of domestic life.
In 1984, 30-something Elly Sparrow, who works in the registrar’s office at Portland State, is in a hospital after suffering a breakdown, seemingly brought on by motherhood. The novel then jumps back a year to reveal Elly in a completely different state, experiencing a sweet, summer moment with her 7-year-old daughter, Jane—a seemingly innocent exchange in which the child asks, “When you were a little girl, did you want to be a mommy?” This triggers Elly’s buried discontent; as a mother of four, she feels trapped by a tidy image of suburban perfection, suffering from feelings of isolation. These make her burst into tears at seemingly random moments; they also lead to her pursuing a flirtation at the park and even contribute to a car accident. There are also flashbacks that show who she once was—career-driven, with a desire to become a teacher, yet appreciating life’s adventures; she had a wonderful relationship with her husband, Dan, until they became parents. In the present day, the formerly free-spirited Dan has hardened; he faces career pressures as a lawyer, which results in Elly’s assuming sole responsibility for many daily tasks. Later, the couple’s sudden marital separation turns Elly’s world upside down. She’s forced to reckon with what she’s lost, and what she’ll do next for herself and her children. Young’s prose, paced rhythmically with the story, evokes ideals of suburban Americana, which later collapse with emotional clarity: “She went to the window when she heard the sound of fireworks zinging and popping, the blast of a car horn, and the shouts and laughter of young voices. Midnight. She peered into the moonless night.” Particularly fascinating is how hope emerges not through self-discovery, but through the protagonist’s return to a past self. Overall, it’s a poignant look into motherhood and the fragile art of remaking a life.
An intimate study of parenthood, sacrifice, and a fight for self-fulfillment.Pub Date: April 14, 2026
ISBN: 9798886454529
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 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
Still, a respectful and absorbing page-turner.
Hannah’s new novel is an homage to the extraordinary courage and endurance of Frenchwomen during World War II.
In 1995, an elderly unnamed widow is moving into an Oregon nursing home on the urging of her controlling son, Julien, a surgeon. This trajectory is interrupted when she receives an invitation to return to France to attend a ceremony honoring passeurs: people who aided the escape of others during the war. Cut to spring, 1940: Viann has said goodbye to husband Antoine, who's off to hold the Maginot line against invading Germans. She returns to tending her small farm, Le Jardin, in the Loire Valley, teaching at the local school and coping with daughter Sophie’s adolescent rebellion. Soon, that world is upended: The Germans march into Paris and refugees flee south, overrunning Viann’s land. Her long-estranged younger sister, Isabelle, who has been kicked out of multiple convent schools, is sent to Le Jardin by Julien, their father in Paris, a drunken, decidedly unpaternal Great War veteran. As the depredations increase in the occupied zone—food rationing, systematic looting, and the billeting of a German officer, Capt. Beck, at Le Jardin—Isabelle’s outspokenness is a liability. She joins the Resistance, volunteering for dangerous duty: shepherding downed Allied airmen across the Pyrenees to Spain. Code-named the Nightingale, Isabelle will rescue many before she's captured. Meanwhile, Viann’s journey from passive to active resistance is less dramatic but no less wrenching. Hannah vividly demonstrates how the Nazis, through starvation, intimidation and barbarity both casual and calculated, demoralized the French, engineering a community collapse that enabled the deportations and deaths of more than 70,000 Jews. Hannah’s proven storytelling skills are ideally suited to depicting such cataclysmic events, but her tendency to sentimentalize undermines the gravitas of this tale.
Still, a respectful and absorbing page-turner.Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-312-57722-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 19, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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