A moving coming-of-age novel that blends thrills and heartfelt familial drama.
In Brandes’ thriller, a young woman must come to terms with her father’s violent past and reconcile with her role in it.
Soon after 30-year-old Tilly Stone’s father, Frank, appears on her doorstep, near the Pennsylvania–New Jersey border, the carefully constructed world she’s built for herself starts to crumble. Seventeen years ago, she was his dutiful disciple; they traveled the country, full of determination to wake up the world to the evils of technology and corporate greed. Their targets were dams, and their explosives were designed not to kill, but to ignite righteous fury. She worshipped her father then, and his mission was hers. Then, one fateful summer, Frank brought Tilly back to his childhood home—the cabin where she’d been born—and promised her that they’d stay there. While he worked as a maintenance person in town, she built a small model cabin from wood scraps and found a passion for woodworking; she also made her first real friend in Henry, a gentle boy her own age. But one night, Frank didn’t come home. She survived, as he’d taught her, and as the years passed, she became a talented furniture maker and forged more connections with others, including Henry’s young son, Finn. She also suffered through visits from the FBI and from fans of her well-known father. Meanwhile, she becomes disillusioned about Frank’s mission, and his reappearance forces her to contend with her past. This hard-to-define novel tugs at the heartstrings and shocks the senses in equal measure. Brandes writes in a gentle, descriptive style, filled with the glories of nature and the darkness of a lonely, isolated life. Tilly’s fierce intelligence and perseverance suggest shades of Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Readers will feel deeply for her during her long, arduous emotional journey, but Brandes’ skill also makes it possible to feel empathy for Frank and his cause, even if readers deplore his actions. Ultimately, this is a novel about finding a balance between loving someone and recognizing that sometimes love can be misplaced.
A moving coming-of-age novel that blends thrills and heartfelt familial drama.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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