A warmhearted story of improbably matched characters trying to reclaim their lives.
Two unlikely traveling companions unite for a life-affirming joyride.
When wealthy septuagenarian businessman Herbert Atlas takes Susan Summerville, an elegant Palm Beach art gallery owner 13 years his junior, as his third wife, he never dreams he’ll end up as her caregiver in their elegant Key West home after she sinks into the impenetrable fog of early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Now 83, with his body ravaged by advanced prostate cancer and an array of other ailments, the irascible Herb pushes back against his children’s plan to move him and Susan to a continuing care facility to live out their final days. Herb’s ally in his fight to cling to the shards that remain of his broken former life is Renee Martin, a young aesthetician hired to care for Susan’s nails, who becomes an inadvertent art therapist for her client. But Renee, whose real name is Deirdre June “Dee Dee” Mullins and who has migrated to Florida from the mountains of North Carolina, has a dark past she’s trying, with only intermittent success, to fend off in the present. She thinks she’s done that when she meets Willie, an aspiring poet who lives in a ramshackle old house, but he’s battling his own demons that complicate their romantic relationship. Shifting between third-person narration and Dee Dee’s affecting voice, Smith skillfully pivots from wry humor to real tenderness toward her quirkily engaging characters. The crisis over Herb and Susan’s move climaxes in a wild ride in Herb’s canary yellow Porsche Carrera, sparking the titular alert, as he and Dee Dee speed through the Florida Keys, soaking up their omnipresent beauty and kitschiness, on their way to Disney World, where Dee Dee hopes to realize her dream of meeting the Disney princesses. Beneath the novel’s occasionally frothy surface beats a compassionate, generous heart.
A warmhearted story of improbably matched characters trying to reclaim their lives.Pub Date: April 18, 2023
ISBN: 9781643752419
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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
© 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.
