An engaging, poignant, and ultimately uplifting story with a likable protagonist.
Wernicke presents an Irish immigration novel inspired by stories of her great-grandmother.
It’s 1867 in Bantry Bay, Ireland. Sixteen-year-old Eileen O’Donovan is daydreaming atop a branch of a large oak tree, her eyes fixed upon the gathering dark clouds and the building sea. Thirteen years ago, her father died working the fields of their small farm, given to him by a local earl in exchange for a portion of the farm’s annual proceeds. Now she, her mother, and her two older brothers, Michael and Martin, supplement their meager income by working at the earl’s estate, Blackthorn House. Hard times have again struck Ireland, and the O’Donovan family is barely scraping by, but Martin and Eileen’s mother have found a solution: The teenager must marry the 40-year-old widower John Sullivan, who owns a more prosperous farm. Bookish Eileen, who harbors dreams of romantic true love, is devastated. Despite opposition from Michael and the village priest, the wedding is set, and Eileen accepts her fate. Meanwhile, Michael becomes involved with the secret Irish Republican Brotherhood, known as the Fenians. Eileen’s loveless marriage, the danger brought upon the family by Michael’s revolutionary activities, and more crop failures propel the narrative’s first part and lead first to Michael’s and later to Eileen and John’s immigration to America, where the tale continues. Wernicke’s prose has a charming lilt to it, and her meticulous descriptions of late-19th-century daily life in Bantry Bay capture the physical beauty of the landscape and the feelings of hopelessness in a land roiled by poverty, famine, and political turmoil. As the story moves to America, it includes vivid portraits of crossing the Atlantic in steerage (“It was hot and stuffy with over a thousand people settling into their berths, calling out complaints and jokes about the bloody British”) and details the tragedies, struggles, and fortitude that define immigrant life. Although the novel occasionally skirts the edges of sentimentality, it nicely combines Eileen’s personal drama with historical elements of the time.
An engaging, poignant, and ultimately uplifting story with a likable protagonist.Pub Date: April 25, 2023
ISBN: 9781647423995
Page Count: 328
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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 dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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