An entertaining, smoothly written tale about tragedy, triumphs, and an undeniable femme fatale.
In this novel, a young Southern boy, haunted by tragedy, turns his grief into enormous success in the business world.
Robby Jackson is content with his childhood in Mississippi, with days spent fishing, going to the public library, and making deliveries on his bike. He cherishes the wisdom from his grandmother and his mother, who, though overqualified, is working as a housekeeper for the local tycoon Bobby Fitzgerald. Being from a Black family, Robby knows that the South was not designed for him to succeed, and some old ways persist in his community. Then tragedy strikes one night, and in an instant both of his parents are dead. Shellshocked, he finds himself housed in the gatehouse at Fitzgerald’s mansion, and the taciturn millionaire announces he will decide Robby’s future. Shipped off to boarding school in Indiana, Robby is in a foreign world and is the only African American student. Friendless, Robby steels himself, weighed down by his family’s secrets and their relationship to Fitzgerald. Robby comes up with a plan for success—and one for revenge. As he grows up, he figures out how to flourish in the business world, and as he learns about women, their allure may be his ultimate downfall (“There’s a gradual slide to the hell we create for ourselves, but we’re usually blinded by our own sense of invincibility”). Hayes’ novel promises to be about how a woman can lead a man to his undoing, and it is, but the book really reads as a contemporary take on old Southern demons. The secret love child in a town where the mother is dependent on the White aristocracy takes on a different dimension when the narrator is a college student in the 1990s. And the author does a remarkable job of infusing contemporary sensibilities into the tale, with the secrets and lies surrounded by vast sums of money. Hayes delivers an irresistible revenge fantasy come to life and a very readable story about essentially limitless business success.
An entertaining, smoothly written tale about tragedy, triumphs, and an undeniable femme fatale.Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-945060-66-3
Page Count: 262
Publisher: Motina Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 2, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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