A model of historical literature that combines scholarly rigor with subtle characterization.
In Rodrigues’ novel, largely set in the early 19th century, two prominent Portuguese intellectuals struggle to spread ideas of liberty while opposed by powerfully illiberal forces.
As a teenager, Joseph Correia da Serra fell deeply in love with Eleonora Fonseca Pimentel, a Portuguese noblewoman who was also a firebrand poet and intellectual. They planned to marry, but then Joseph suddenly left her; due to his father’s financial distress, he thought it more prudent to pursue a religious career offered to him with the support of the Duke of Lafões. Eleonora is devastated, but she goes on to become a notable author and the librarian to Carolina, the queen of Naples. But as Eleonora’s political views become more aggressively revolutionary, Carolina’s become more conservative. Eleonora finally becomes a fully committed Jacobin and the editor of the progressive republican newspaper Il Monitore Napoletano, and she’s arrested for her views in 1799. Decades later, Joseph, now in his 60s and famous for his achievements as a botanist, discovers Eleonora’s memoirs in Thomas Jefferson’s library while visiting his home in Virginia. Rodrigues conveys this emotionally gripping and philosophically lively story in two formats: Eleonora’s remembrance right before her execution, and Joseph’s conversations with Jefferson. Eleonora is effectively painted as a tragic figure; after Joseph left her, she endured an abusive marriage, and she paid a steep price for her political convictions. Joseph is shown to have never quite recovered from their separation; in fact, he devoted himself to his intellectual life at the expense of his emotional one: “I had split myself in two: I had crushed the emotional side of me, the part that had loved a young Portuguese woman with dark, contemplative eyes. The root of my spiritual alienation, if I could call it that, lay in this division.” The author’s research is impeccable, but her novel offers much more than historical edification; it’s also a riveting work of great psychological complexity.
A model of historical literature that combines scholarly rigor with subtle characterization.Pub Date: July 21, 2020
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 198
Publisher: New Academia Publishing/ The Spring
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
© Copyright 2025 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.
