Part Southern Gothic, part Frankenstein, all thought-provoking.
The historic and folkloric combine with menacing results in this retelling of a disturbing episode in America’s past.
In 1915, the Felicitous Five—a (fictional) group of teenage Jewish girls living in Atlanta—become obsessed with the (unfortunately nonfictional) case of Leo Frank, a local Jewish businessman convicted of murdering a 13-year-old factory worker, Mary Phagan, two years earlier. Dedicated to preserving every bit of reportage and memorabilia about Frank they can, the girls draw up a set of ground rules for their curatorial endeavors, stressing mutuality and sharing of information. After Frank’s sentence is commuted, he’s kidnapped and lynched by an incensed local mob; the girls then advance their project and construct a golem in Frank’s likeness, eventually coming to wrestle with their expectations for the creature once it becomes (somewhat) sentient. The youngest of the girls, precocious but naïve Ana Wulff, takes the project most to heart and risks alienation from the group (and her personal safety) when her experiences with the golem mutate from mere homage to Leo Frank into a more transcendent exploration of the nature of universal truth, the acquisition of language, and the role of language in the formation of consciousness. Based on extensive research by Nye, the narrative weaves together themes of mysticism from both the Jewish and voodoo traditions as it examines the angst of adolescence, the tyranny of mobs, and bigoted populism. Intermittent passages in the communal voice of four members of the Felicitous Five telegraph Ana’s eventual status vis-à-vis the group. Nye’s narrative poetically and darkly conveys the uncertainties and anxieties experienced by the girls as they mature to womanhood while struggling to understand the horrific circumstances of Phagan’s murder and Frank’s lynching.
Part Southern Gothic, part Frankenstein, all thought-provoking.Pub Date: June 15, 2024
ISBN: 9780810147324
Page Count: 296
Publisher: Curbstone Press/Northwestern Univ.
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
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 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
© 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.
