Thrilling Western adventure frames heartfelt family drama as a boy searches for himself.
A moving coming-of-age story makes the most of its harshly beautiful setting.
Tourists by the millions visit Utah for its breathtaking landscapes, but this novel focuses on families that have lived in the eastern part of the state for generations amid both the beauty and the hardships. Its protagonist is Ryder Mikkelson, 7 years old when we meet him. He’s the only child (a rarity in these parts) of Alma and Evaleen, who dote on him. He’s also nestled into a group of close friends, his cousins, serene Ferron and wild boy Kenty, and a sharp-witted Navajo girl named Sami Begay. Then, during a high-country hunting trip, Ryder takes a terrifying fall that leaves him so badly broken he’ll spend months in the hospital. The injuries will shape his whole life, and so will a secret that slips out during the ordeal: He’s adopted. His parents tell him they know nothing about his biological family and that they’re grateful to have him, but as Ryder shoots up to be much taller than any of his relatives and develops artistic talent none of them share, he’s haunted by his origins. The book’s evolving portrait of family relationships, even with some of its difficult members, is convincing, warm without veering into sentimentality. Ryder’s point of view, from his childhood to his role as a husband and father, evolves believably, and the dialogue and details capture the culture of the rural community. Some of the novel’s most memorable passages are those depicting the Utah landscape, not only the splendor of the mountains, mesas, and canyons but the sometimes deadly challenges they can present to humans.
Thrilling Western adventure frames heartfelt family drama as a boy searches for himself.Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2025
ISBN: 9798890920263
Page Count: 350
Publisher: Torrey House Press
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
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
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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