Despite its real historical virtues, this is a dramatically underwhelming novel.
In Bristow’s historical novel, based on a true story, an Italian couple attempts to hide the nation’s artistic treasures from looting Nazis.
In 1943, Sant’ Angelo, a rural town in northern Italy, is plunged into the perilous drama of World War II—the Nazis imperiously take control of the region and plunder the local farmers’ supplies, causing shortages. Meanwhile, fascist groups prowl the countryside looking to forcibly conscript young men into service. Partisan militias form to combat both incursions, ensuring that the area is engulfed in violence. As a result, a “a pall of fear had settled over the village and the surrounding countryside, and no amount of praying seemed to relieve it,” a situation poignantly depicted by the author. Luca Rossi and Elena Marchetti, both of whom hail from prominent farming families in the area, feel the squeeze of the brewing conflicts, and both have brothers who leave home to take their chances with the partisans. Luca wants to contribute to the defense of Italy somehow but is desperately needed by his family on the farm, and Elena feels the same; she’s unwilling to become a soldier, but desperate to do her part: “She was not ready to take up arms to save her country like her brother, but she wasn’t a child. She was tired of being treated as if her life was less important than her brother’s.” An aspiring art curator, she is presented with a novel opportunity to make a difference—Pasquale Rotondi, who works at the Galleria Nazionale in Urbino, is in charge of the effort to hide precious Italian art from Nazi looting, and he asks her to join him. As the Nazis grow closer to discovering the operation, he comes up with a dangerous plan to ship the hidden art, with Elena’s help, to the Vatican in Rome.
Bristow’s recreation of the political tinderbox Italy had become during the war is meticulous—her research is impeccably rigorous. For the typical Italian unencumbered by fascist ideology, the predicament was all but unbearable, a grim circumstance she brings vividly to life. She astutely explores an issue that transcends mere survival: the protection of the nation’s cultural identity. The relationship between Luca and Elena is tenderly drawn; despite the distance that separates them—he is a homebound farmer and she a worldly aesthete—they seem uniquely suitable for each other. However, the prose, always lucid and sometimes dramatically powerful, too often indulges shopworn cliches and facile sentimentality. The book’s conclusion, in particular, is so cloyingly lachrymose it feels baldly manipulative. The reader is constantly lectured on the great importance of art, and often compelled to take in impassioned (if platitudinous) sermons about its value. Consider this proselytizing speech by Paolo, Luca’s father: “Without art, we are just like animals, struggling to survive each day. The churches would just be buildings without the altarpieces that reflect the glory of God. We all need to be inspired.” This banally formulaic defense of art, which runs throughout the entire novel, undermines the book’s literary appeal.
Despite its real historical virtues, this is a dramatically underwhelming novel.Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2023
ISBN: 9798988791904
Page Count: 258
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2023
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
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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