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
A welcome literary resurrection that deserves a place alongside Wright’s best-known work.
A falsely accused Black man goes into hiding in this masterful novella by Wright (1908-1960), finally published in full.
Written in 1941 and '42, between Wright’s classics Native Son and Black Boy, this short novel concerns Fred Daniels, a modest laborer who’s arrested by police officers and bullied into signing a false confession that he killed the residents of a house near where he was working. In a brief unsupervised moment, he escapes through a manhole and goes into hiding in a sewer. A series of allegorical, surrealistic set pieces ensues as Fred explores the nether reaches of a church, a real estate firm, and a jewelry store. Each stop is an opportunity for Wright to explore themes of hope, greed, and exploitation; the real estate firm, Wright notes, “collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent from poor colored folks.” But Fred’s deepening existential crisis and growing distance from society keep the scenes from feeling like potted commentaries. As he wallpapers his underground warren with cash, mocking and invalidating the currency, he registers a surrealistic but engrossing protest against divisive social norms. The novel, rejected by Wright’s publisher, has only appeared as a substantially truncated short story until now, without the opening setup and with a different ending. Wright's take on racial injustice seems to have unsettled his publisher: A note reveals that an editor found reading about Fred’s treatment by the police “unbearable.” That may explain why Wright, in an essay included here, says its focus on race is “rather muted,” emphasizing broader existential themes. Regardless, as an afterword by Wright’s grandson Malcolm attests, the story now serves as an allegory both of Wright (he moved to France, an “exile beyond the reach of Jim Crow and American bigotry”) and American life. Today, it resonates deeply as a story about race and the struggle to envision a different, better world.
A welcome literary resurrection that deserves a place alongside Wright’s best-known work.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-59853-676-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Library of America
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
BOOK TO SCREEN
A shaky balance between saccharine and sage will nevertheless appeal to the author’s fans and readers seeking balm.
An elderly man’s posthumous journey back through his life has unexpected consequences for several people, and lessons for everyone.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that readers adore any novel set in a reading group, bookshop, or library, from the terribly sad (The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, 2008) to the puzzle-heavy (Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, 2012) to the downright clever (The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett, 2007). Haig, who’s already written The Midnight Library (2020), mines a similar vein in this novel centered on a bookseller named Wilbur Budd; place this one in the seriously sentimental category. Wilbur dies at 81 just after receiving a call from his ex-wife, Maggie. He finds himself on a classic steam-train carriage, accompanied by a younger version of the woman who founded the bookstore he turned into a global conglomerate. As Mrs. Agnes Bagdale explains, he’s on a trip to significant places and events from his life, but he’s forbidden from interfering in them, thus possibly changing the course of other people’s lives. True to his maverick tendencies, Wilbur struggles with the three rules of the train (“You get on and off the train as required. You never try and speak to yourself. And you must never be there when you fall asleep”) and struggles even more mightily as he realizes that Maggie was his true love and lifelong lodestar. While some moments verge on maudlin, as when Wilbur and Maggie goggle at Venice during their honeymoon, these are tempered by quieter observations, as when Wilbur’s oldest friend, Charlie, tells him frankly during lunch at a trendy restaurant that his constant ambition is a failing. This isn’t a subtle book and it’s not trying to be; it’s urging readers to think about their own choices, wherever they find themselves.
A shaky balance between saccharine and sage will nevertheless appeal to the author’s fans and readers seeking balm.Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9780593833377
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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