A beautifully told blend of grief, hope, and humor that showcases Higgins at her best.
A woman gets revenge—and a whole new life—when her husband announces he’s leaving her the day before their son graduates from high school.
Lillie Silva is heartbroken that her only son, Dylan, is about to graduate from high school and leave their home in Cape Cod to attend college all the way in Montana. But she knows she’ll still be plenty busy—she has a wonderful job as a nurse midwife, family nearby (even if they have their problems), and, best of all, she’s about to surprise her husband, Brad, with a trip to Europe. But when Brad takes her out to dinner the night before Dylan’s graduation, it’s not to celebrate raising their wonderful son—it’s to tell her he wants a divorce because he’s in love with Melissa Finch, a much younger woman who recently moved to town. Lillie had dreamed of handling her son’s departure by commiserating with the only other person who really understood—but now she’ll be spending all her time alone. With a lot of free time on her hands, Lillie starts playing small pranks on Brad—like, for example, unleashing a skunk in his new home. It’s not all laughs, though—Lillie feels a deep grief over the loss of the life she had, one with a devoted husband, family holidays, and all the little routines she thought would last forever. She also mourns the daughter she delivered stillborn years ago and imagines how much less lonely her life would be if that daughter had lived. As she adjusts to being on her own, Lillie starts to reconnect with people from her past—including her former classmate Ben Hallowell, who was behind the wheel in a car accident that nearly ended Lillie’s life. And when she befriends Ophelia, Melissa’s niece (who lives with her), Lillie realizes that life still has plenty of surprises in store. Higgins manages to address a plethora of tough topics, including infertility and sexual assault, and give them the respect they deserve while also crafting a story that’s full of hope. With a blend of humor and poignancy reminiscent of Nora Ephron’s Heartburn, Lillie’s witty narration never obscures the very real devastation that she feels as the family she loved breaks apart.
A beautifully told blend of grief, hope, and humor that showcases Higgins at her best.Pub Date: June 7, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-33532-1
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
One of the noblest characters in American literature gets a novel worthy of him.
Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as told from the perspective of a more resourceful and contemplative Jim than the one you remember.
This isn’t the first novel to reimagine Twain’s 1885 masterpiece, but the audacious and prolific Everett dives into the very heart of Twain’s epochal odyssey, shifting the central viewpoint from that of the unschooled, often credulous, but basically good-hearted Huck to the more enigmatic and heroic Jim, the Black slave with whom the boy escapes via raft on the Mississippi River. As in the original, the threat of Jim’s being sold “down the river” and separated from his wife and daughter compels him to run away while figuring out what to do next. He's soon joined by Huck, who has faked his own death to get away from an abusive father, ramping up Jim’s panic. “Huck was supposedly murdered and I’d just run away,” Jim thinks. “Who did I think they would suspect of the heinous crime?” That Jim can, as he puts it, “[do] the math” on his predicament suggests how different Everett’s version is from Twain’s. First and foremost, there's the matter of the Black dialect Twain used to depict the speech of Jim and other Black characters—which, for many contemporary readers, hinders their enjoyment of his novel. In Everett’s telling, the dialect is a put-on, a manner of concealment, and a tactic for survival. “White folks expect us to sound a certain way and it can only help if we don’t disappoint them,” Jim explains. He also discloses that, in violation of custom and law, he learned to read the books in Judge Thatcher’s library, including Voltaire and John Locke, both of whom, in dreams and delirium, Jim finds himself debating about human rights and his own humanity. With and without Huck, Jim undergoes dangerous tribulations and hairbreadth escapes in an antebellum wilderness that’s much grimmer and bloodier than Twain’s. There’s also a revelation toward the end that, however stunning to devoted readers of the original, makes perfect sense.
One of the noblest characters in American literature gets a novel worthy of him.Pub Date: March 19, 2024
ISBN: 9780385550369
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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