An earnest historical novel that lacks the subtlety that might have lent it more power.
In this generational drama set in the 1950s and ’60s, the moral failings of a prominent businessman in North Carolina sow the seeds of his own destruction.
Gordon Talmadge is accustomed to getting what he wants. He owns a major tobacco farm in Hobbsfield, North Carolina, and owns and operates Farmers and Merchants Bank, a business he inherited from his father, Stephen. A brash, blustery man, he’s as selfish as he is bigoted and chronically unfaithful to his wife, Claire. His son, Junior, is just as mean-spirited and self-obsessed, and although Gordon is all but oblivious to his vices, Claire is not. One evening, Junior, who’s white, attempts to rape Ella Sanders, the daughter of Black sharecropper Louis Sanders and his wife, Ivy, who works for Gordon as a cook.Ella’s brother, Jake, attempts to intervene, but it’s Ella who successfully fights Junior off, leaving him with serious injuries. Jake is terrified he’ll be blamed and leaves for Philadelphia to start a new life; later, Gordon refuses to entertain the possibility his son is at fault. Daughtry chronicles the fortunes of the Talmadge and Sanders families as the world begins to abruptly change, ushering in new mores, laws, and business practices, including desegregation. He deftly documents the pains of adjustment, especially for those who resist societal change; Gordon is shown to be constitutionally incapable of adapting to it—a limitation that ultimately leads to the demise of his commercial empire. Jake, meanwhile, embarks on a career as a medical doctor.
At the heart of the novel is a thoughtful meditation on the inexorability of change, and what happens when justice results in a redistribution of success. Also, Daughtry presents a provocative profile of nepotism in these pages; for all of Gordon’s success, it’s made clear that he was never a superior businessman whose skill brought him riches; in fact, he simply inherited a thriving empire that required very little from him to continue as it always had. Likewise, Junior is shown as being coddled and protected by Gordon, despite his horrific behavior, which results in him becoming something of a moral facsimile of his father. (It’s revealed that, like Junior, Gordon is a sexual predator.) However, the moral power of the story as a whole is undermined by its lack of nuance. Gordon’s failings, in particular, are painted with such a broad brush that he feels like a cartoon villain, and the portrayal of Jake makes him seem almost saintly at times. This feeling of absolutism gives the story a leaden quality, as there’s no doubt about whether good or evil will win out. At times, the story seems like a didactic sermon meant to edify the reader, rather than an exploration of a specific time and place with its accompanying moral questions. As a result, the novel, despite its dramatic eventfulness, feels quite unspectacular, as the reader will never find themselves wondering what will happen, or why.
An earnest historical novel that lacks the subtlety that might have lent it more power.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 358
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
SEEN & HEARD
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.
A French art historian’s English-language fiction debut combines the story of a loving relationship between a grandfather and granddaughter with an enlightening discussion of art.
One day, when 10-year-old Mona removes the necklace given to her by her now-dead grandmother, she experiences a frightening, hour-long bout of blindness. Her parents take her to the doctor, who gives her a variety of tests and also advises that she see a psychiatrist. Her grandfather Henry tells her parents that he will take care of that assignment, but instead, he takes Mona on weekly visits to either the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Centre Pompidou, where each week they study a single work of art, gazing at it deeply and then discussing its impact and history and the biography of its maker. For the reader’s benefit, Schlesser also describes each of the works in scrupulous detail. As the year goes on, Mona faces the usual challenges of elementary school life and the experiences of being an only child, and slowly begins to understand the causes of her temporary blindness. Primarily an amble through a few dozen of Schlesser’s favorite works of art—some well known and others less so, from Botticelli and da Vinci through Basquiat and Bourgeois—the novel would probably benefit from being read at a leisurely pace. While the dialogue between Henry and the preternaturally patient and precocious Mona sometimes strains credulity, readers who don’t have easy access to the museums of Paris may enjoy this vicarious trip in the company of a guide who focuses equally on that which can be seen and the context that can’t be. Come for the novel, stay for the introductory art history course.
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798889661115
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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