Charming and lively, if somewhat predictable.
A woman flees her recently torn-apart marriage to Paris, where she reevaluates her life.
When Vincent Wilde’s husband, Cillian, a renowned author, publishes a novel that tells the thinly veiled story of their relationship—and reveals the existence of an illegitimate child he fathered at age 15—she finds solace in temporarily relocating to Paris, home of her namesake, Van Gogh. In Paris, she can be “simply Vincent, not Vincent the wife or Vincent the mom or Vincent the daughter or Vincent the sister.” Vincent stays in her artist parents’ lush apartment; hosts dinners attended by a cast of cultured acquaintances; and teaches a class on journaling. The pleasant rhythm of Vincent’s routine is interrupted, though, when a friend introduces her to the energetic, violently attractive Loup—a 24-year-old who, like his wolfish namesake, symbolizes a force equally captivating and dangerous. Loup is instantly enamored with Vincent, and as he’s woven into her social circle, the attraction between them grows stronger and harder for Vincent to resist. Meanwhile, she tries to process frequent apology letters from Cillian, who’s seeking reconciliation, and strikes up a surprisingly heartfelt correspondence with her husband's estranged son. Vincent and Loup finally initiate an affair whose intensity is entirely befitting of Paris: wandering through the city aimlessly at night; meeting at Loup’s band’s smoky, busy shows; and discovering one another physically. But as Vincent's son’s wedding approaches, ensuring a reunion between her and Cillian, she’s compelled to reevaluate the person she’s become during her marriage and must decide whether her time in Paris will prove life-altering or nothing but a brief, beautiful mirage. Though its plot sometimes proves predictable—the love triangle at the book’s center is its almost-exclusive focus, and it presents few unexpected turns (or character developments, at least on the men’s parts)—this is a smoothly written, enjoyable novel that gives due to the social and emotional complexities of middle age. Vincent is a lovable protagonist; the narrative is also interspersed with her diary entries and letters, creating a self-aware, three-dimensional character. Cross-Smith sensitively explores the many permutations of romantic and platonic love and the idea that, especially in Paris, one’s love may not be limited to a single other person.
Charming and lively, if somewhat predictable.Pub Date: May 31, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5387-5516-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
Harrison has earned a place among a vanguard of women reinventing horror that includes Mona Awad and Julia Armfield.
Harrison turns her attention from vampires and werewolves to the ghosts of childhood trauma.
Stylist and fashion influencer Clio Barnes has been estranged from her mother for years, as have her sisters. When their mother dies, she leaves her house to Leda, Daphne, and Clio. The elder two want nothing to do with the house, but Clio has visions of renovating the place, turning her DIY into content, and flipping it for a profit. One more detail: The house is possessed by a demon. In So Thirsty (2024), Harrison wrote a book about vampires that was also a novel about best friends trying to figure out what to do with their lives. Here, Harrison mines the potential of the haunted house to excavate the abuse that Clio and her sisters suffered as children. Clio is a terrific protagonist. She’s sharp and funny and a little less self-aware than she thinks she is. As she tries to reconcile her own memories with those of her family—including her mother, who left behind an annotated copy of the book she wrote about living in a demon-plagued split-level in the suburbs—and questions her own sense of reality, Clio unravels. But it’s a necessary unraveling, the kind of annihilation that makes real change possible. This novel delivers truly chilly scenes while also exploring the emotional depths that make horror meaningful. There’s a climactic scene at a family barbecue where Clio sees echoes of her mother in herself, Leda, and Daphne and thinks, “Her ghost is us.” There are many emotionally devastating moments in this novel, but this one captures the essence of them all. Harrison knows that we are, all of us, haunted.
Harrison has earned a place among a vanguard of women reinventing horror that includes Mona Awad and Julia Armfield.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9780593642580
Page Count: 332
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
Uneven but fitfully amusing.
Betrayed by her husband, a severely depressed young woman gets drawn into the over-the-top festivities at a lavish wedding.
Phoebe Stone, who teaches English literature at a St. Louis college, is plotting her own demise. Her husband, Matt, has left her for another woman, and Phoebe is taking it hard. Indeed, she's determined just where and how she will end it all: at an oceanfront hotel in Newport, where she will lie on a king-sized canopy bed and take a bottle of her cat’s painkillers. At the hotel, Phoebe meets bride-to-be Lila, a headstrong rich girl presiding over her own extravagant six-day wedding celebration. Lila thought she had booked every room in the hotel, and learning of Phoebe's suicidal intentions, she forbids this stray guest from disrupting the nuptials: “No. You definitely can’t kill yourself. This is my wedding week.” After the punchy opening, a grim flashback to the meltdown of Phoebe's marriage temporarily darkens the mood, but things pick up when spoiled Lila interrupts Phoebe's preparations and sweeps her up in the wedding juggernaut. The slide from earnest drama to broad farce is somewhat jarring, but from this point on, Espach crafts an enjoyable—if overstuffed—comedy of manners. When the original maid of honor drops out, Phoebe is persuaded, against her better judgment, to take her place. There’s some fun to be had here: The wedding party—including groom-to-be Gary, a widower, and his 11-year-old daughter—takes surfing lessons; the women in the group have a session with a Sex Woman. But it all goes on too long, and the humor can seem forced, reaching a low point when someone has sex with the vintage wedding car (you don’t want to know the details). Later, when two characters have a meet-cute in a hot tub, readers will guess exactly how the marriage plot resolves.
Uneven but fitfully amusing.Pub Date: July 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781250899576
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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