A character-rich story of risky, remarkable activism that resonates more strongly than ever.
An underground abortion ring provides support for women in pre–Roe v. Wade Chicago in a novel based loosely on the real-life Jane network.
In the spring of 1969, on the cusp of divorce from her husband, Gabe, Siobhan Johnson is blindfolded and taken to an undisclosed location to have a back-alley abortion, supported by her friend Veronica Stillwell. Two years later, Siobhan and Veronica have founded Jane, a thriving underground network offering safe, sanitary, and very much illegal abortions. Amid a delightful cast of supporting characters, Maher centers the story around three women: Veronica is a wife and mother who works tirelessly to balance her double life and whose previous miscarriage amps up her anxiety about her current pregnancy; Patty Buford is a friend of Veronica’s who knows nothing about Jane and who spends her days being the perfect housewife—never mind her distant husband, who may be having an affair; and Margaret Jones is an English professor and new volunteer who becomes increasingly aware that her boyfriend, Gabe—yes, that Gabe—isn’t the dreamboat she’d hoped he’d be. Rather than delivering an action-packed tale of heroics in the fight for justice, Maher makes a feast of ordinary morsels. After all, real advocacy, as Siobhan says, mostly “involves hundreds of mundane tasks. But it all adds up to a remarkable, liberating act.” As tensions creep in—from Veronica’s risky pregnancy to the near-constant police presence outside Jane’s various locations and the reappearance of Patty’s wayward sister, Eliza—interpersonal conflicts are refreshingly resolved with healthy adult communication. Race and class struggles are given ample focus—Black patients, who make up the majority, are at greater risk of arrest than white patients, something Black volunteer Phyllis Williams is all too happy to point out to her privileged white peers. When the women of Jane are faced with arrest, the looming passage of Roe v. Wade is their salvation and a heartbreaking reminder of what women have since lost.
A character-rich story of risky, remarkable activism that resonates more strongly than ever.Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9780593102213
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
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
A debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.
A high school senior pursues an affair with her teacher.
Seventeen-year-old Waldo, the narrator of McCurdy’s fiction debut, lives in Anchorage, Alaska, with her mother, though she’s long been the parent in their relationship. She heats her own frozen meals and pays the bills on time while her mom chases man after man and makes well-meaning promises she never keeps. Waldo blows her Victoria’s Secret wages on online shopping sprees and binges on junk food, inevitably crashing after the fleeting highs of her indulgences. Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher, has “thinning hair and nose pores”; he’s 40 years old and married with a child. Nevertheless—or possibly as a result?—Waldo’s attraction to him is “instant. So sudden it’s alarming. So palpable it’s confusing.” Mr. Korgy professes to want to keep their friendship aboveboard, but after a sexual encounter at the school’s winter formal that she initiates, an affair begins. Will this reckless pursuit be the one that actually satisfies Waldo, and is she as mature as she thinks she is? Waldo is a keen observer of people and provides sharp commentary on the punishing work of female beauty. Readers of McCurdy’s bestselling memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died (2022), will surely be curious about the tumultuous mother-daughter relationship, and it is one of the novel’s highlights, full of realistic pity and anger and need. (“I want to scream at her. I want her to hug me.”) Unfortunately, the prose is often unwieldy and sometimes downright cringeworthy: When Waldo tells Mr. Korgy she loves him, “The words hang in the air in that constipated way they do when you know that you shouldn’t have said them.” Waldo frequently lists emotions and adjectives in triplicate, and events that could be significant aren’t sufficiently explored or given enough space to breathe before the novel races on to the next thing.
A debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780593723739
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2026 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.
