A pleasant, entertaining read, light on tension.
In Clarke’s novel, a newly minted Canadian university graduate travels to England to uncover the secrets of her mother’s mysterious past.
Sophie Groenveld has finished her undergraduate studies in Toronto. She and her boyfriend, Marc-Antoine, are in York, England, a stop on their grand European tour. Sophie is here against her parents’ wishes, but she is on a mission. The only thing she knows about her mother’s background is that she was born and raised in York; she is determined to learn her mother’s full history. After an argument at a local pub, Marc-Antoine deserts Sophie, mistakenly taking her backpack with him instead of his own. Now, she is without money, passport, and rail pass. Desperate for funds, she scores a job as the night-desk clerk at The Aviary Inn, owned and managed by the enigmatic Mrs. Ava Roxtoby, who is at times efficient and alert and at other times appears to wander in a daze. Sophie detects an underlying sadness in the woman and feels an urge to connect. (She explains early on that she is “drawn to people, curious about them, and involved in their stories.”) Gradually, Sophie also begins to suspect that her mother has a connection to this Inn, with its quirky collection of stuffed birds and its assortment of live feathered friends in its unique private aviary. Clarke’s coming-of-age novel tracks Sophie’s summer-long interactions with a cohort of Inn employees; an elderly, mercurial Inn resident; and a growing circle of friends (including a couple of potential romantic partners) as she hunts down clues to her mother’s origins and tackles her own troubles. The story is slow-paced, but the prose, peppered with a variety of local accents, terminology, and customs, is engaging, and there are enough twists and turns to maintain readers’ interest. As secrets unravel, there are only a few surprises, but the plotline is addictive and Sophie is a sturdy, likeable protagonist.
A pleasant, entertaining read, light on tension.Pub Date: May 19, 2025
ISBN: 9780994950796
Page Count: 444
Publisher: Nymphaea Press
Review Posted Online: May 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
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
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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