A personable and intriguing novel of love and art history with a touch of mystery.
In Reid’s novel, a young American artist in Rome uncovers a clue to what might be a long-lost work by Leonardo da Vinci.
Rose Maning quit her secure teaching job in Virginia to pursue her artistic passions as a painter in Florence, Italy: “Her passion for the Renaissance was rewarded daily,” readers are told, “as she lived and painted in the city where the true geniuses of history had once resided.” She also has a passion for her fiance, a charismatic Italian man named Lyon who’s supportive of her burgeoning creative career. As the narrative progresses, the smooth progress of their relationship becomes tangled as Lyon reveals that he may not be able to father children and shows signs of possible infidelity, which drives Rose temporarily back to the United States. These dark clouds gather over another developing plotline involving The Battle of Anghiari, a painting commissioned for the Palazzo Vecchio in 1505 and thought by art historians to be yet another of the many projects that Leonardo never actually completed. As Rose investigates with the help of her friend Beatrice and an enterprising cardinal, she comes to suspect that the work was not only completed, but also may be right under their noses. Over the course of this novel, Reid stirs all of these elements into an inviting and easygoing story—one that feels like a version of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code(2003) with cozier chats and artisanal tea blends. Her characters are only sketchily developed, but they're friendly and enjoyable, making for feel-good fiction with a Renaissance flair. Reid adds liberal amounts of art history along the way, with figures such as Michelangelo, da Vinci, and especially painter and writer Giorgio Vasari feeling like full-fledged characters. Readers interested in the Renaissance era will appreciate the author’s efforts to bring it to life on the page.
A personable and intriguing novel of love and art history with a touch of mystery.Pub Date: June 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64663-678-5
Page Count: 246
Publisher: Koehler Books
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2022
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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