A vibrant and occasionally florid reimagining of an ancient love story for modern times.
Ancient biblical kingdoms meet refugee camps in modern-day Yemen in a re-envisioning of the story of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.
This novel by Colombian writer Restrepo reimagines the biblical love affair through the lens of the queen’s childhood and upbringing, weaving it into the stories of modern exiles in refugee settlements in Yemen. The queen, born as the eldest daughter of the kingdom of Sheba and nicknamed Goat Foot because of her furred body and goatlike foot, was cast out by her mother and lives on the edge of society and, as a result of her liminal existence, “embraced multiplicity and renounced nothing, in a splendid mix of animal and human, dirty and clean, living and dead, past and future, white and black.” Running alongside and interwoven with the story of Goat Foot is the contemporary story of the failed monk Bos Mutas, whose fascination with the Queen of Sheba begins as a boy when his parents take him on a cruise down the Nile and he encounters her belly dancing on the ship’s main stage. After his father abandons him and his mother dies, Bos Mutas trains to be a Dominican monk but finds himself unable to pray to the Christian god and instead becomes more intensely obsessed with the Queen of Sheba. His obsession eventually leads to his expulsion from the novitiate, and his search for the elusive queen takes him to Yemen, where he meets Zahra Bayda, a Somali midwife with Doctors Without Borders, whom he follows into refugee settlements. He watches her work among the migrants, many of whom claim to be descendants of the Queen of Sheba. Restrepo’s gift for description and worldbuilding is impressive, as is her astonishing breadth of allusions ranging from Patti Smith to Thomas Aquinas. However, in some instances, the same richness that lends the story vitality buries some of the characters’ most compelling moments beneath overly ornate language as they struggle for love, acceptance, and survival amid the horrors of war, otherness, and exile.
A vibrant and occasionally florid reimagining of an ancient love story for modern times.Pub Date: Dec. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9780063356153
Page Count: 368
Publisher: HarperVia
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
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 dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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