A vividly evoked setting with a cast of memorable characters navigating the universe’s whims.
In Ceci’s novel, communities are forged in the face of catastrophe.
Brad is a coder who lives with his husband, Mitch, in a condo in Palo Alto, California. While Mitch immerses himself in activism, Brad holds back. He wants to live in a world that he never has to get too close to, and where no one risks getting too close to him. As his marriage collapses, Brad is forced to confront the dissatisfaction that’s taken root in his life. The catalyst for this change is Daniel, a man who’s able to talk about the spirituality surrounding the pagan Lammas holiday and his relationship to Christianity with equal conviction. Daniel serves in a monastery in San Lucca, where Brad grew up and where his siblings, Elena and Arvo, still live. Brad left San Lucca as soon as he could and has no plans to return, but when Arvo is diagnosed with brain cancer, family calls. Brad’s world is soon plunged into chaos: “Earthquake. Arvo’s death. Mary’s murder. Wildfire. Daniel.” It’s all Brad can do to keep his head above water, but in the face of personal and environmental calamity, he finds a new type of family in a community of openly queer, spiritually focused men who are ready to help him face the secrets in his past as well as the possibilities in his future. Finding connection isn’t the same as finding answers, but, as Brad must eventually accept, “some mysteries stay mysteries.” Ceci’s novel is immersed in the geography and lore of California. The natural disasters that occur throughout the book thrust the story into mythic territory and effectively evoke the sense of a home that may be lost at any moment. The author intriguingly develops themes of spirituality, religion, and queerness as the novel progresses, and Ceci’s embrace of nuance and ambiguity further adds to the epic quality of the work; the result is an immersive, chaotic journey that raises many compelling questions.
A vividly evoked setting with a cast of memorable characters navigating the universe’s whims.Pub Date: March 14, 2026
ISBN: 9781968983079
Page Count: 334
Publisher: Rattling Good Yarns Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An evocative and moving tribute to the death-defying, heart-opening, infinitely redemptive power of storytelling.
A chance meeting in a museum unlocks a long-closed door in a family’s past.
Of a piece with her last three novels—Commonwealth (2016), The Dutch House (2019), and Tom Lake (2023)—Patchett’s latest explores the evolution of families over time, romantic secrets, and step-relationships, again giving these topics the wry and tender treatment that is distinctively hers. As it begins, Daphne Fuller’s attentive husband, Jonathan, notices that a man has been following them through the Metropolitan Museum of Art. At first they chalk it up to the fact that “old guys love [Daphne],” as she told Jonathan decades ago, a notion he has held onto "like a souvenir postcard from another era." But it turns out that, though Daphne doesn’t recognize him, Eddie Triplett is her former stepfather. Like the author herself, as recalled in her 2020 essay “Three Fathers,” Daphne has had three dads. Her biological father, a deep-sea fisherman named Buddy Zabriskie, left the family early; her current stepfather, Lucas Ekker, lives with her mother in retirement in Massachusetts. Ekker is an unprepossessing sort Abby met working as the publicist for his self-help books, Positivity!, Positively Positive!, The Positivity Workbook!, Positive Every Day!, ad infinitum. The man in the museum, Eddie Triplett, was also someone her mother met through her job in publishing, and once Daphne realizes who he is, she remembers that “[their] hearts were forever stitched together.” This is because Daphne and Eddie were in a serious car accident when she was 9 years old, after which her mother immediately divorced him and evicted him from their lives. The details of that accident—among them lies the reason the novel is named after a horse called Whistler—are gradually wheedled out of Daphne by her younger sister, Leda, a clinical psychologist in New York and a reliable source of insight on the narrative’s key issues. “‘You make it sound like I’ve been keeping all this from you, but I’m not,’ [Daphne] said. ‘Who goes through life thinking about what happened when they were nine?’ ‘It’s all people think about,’ Leda said.”
An evocative and moving tribute to the death-defying, heart-opening, infinitely redemptive power of storytelling.Pub Date: June 2, 2026
ISBN: 9780063511637
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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