A soothing portrayal of self-discovery for readers who enjoy relatable female characters.
In Megan Walrod’s debut novel, a woman rediscovers her dreams after returning to her roots amid personal upheaval.
When Sabina Bell’s rockstar husband Reece abruptly delivers the news that he has cheated on her, her world is shaken. She packs up her stuff and heads to her best friend Mel’s house, but soon her life veers off course again when she receives a call alerting her that her beloved Nana is in the ICU. Sabina drops everything, leaving her life in Los Angeles behind to be by her grandmother’s side in Santa Cruz. With distance from the crazy world of music that Reece had led her into, Sabina realizes just how many dreams she has pushed aside in order to support his. She begins painting again, reconnects with her childhood belief in selkies and mermaids, and even runs into a lost love from her teen years. Staying at her Nana’s seaside cottage reinvigorates Sabina and inspires her to re-examine her marriage, her relationship with her parents, and everything that she’d resigned herself to. (It will come as no surprise to readers that Walrod is a female empowerment coach by profession.) Sabina as a heroine is inherently likable, and she is surrounded by a strong cast of supporting characters—mostly women—who support her rediscovery of herself. The narrative is refreshingly not so romance-focused; Sabina takes her Nana’s advice “to stop making the dream of happily-ever-after all about a man,” and the frisson of attraction she feels toward past love Graham is confined to a side plot. However, the constantly iterated motifs of selkies and water are sometimes a little overwhelming—the selkies’ purpose seems to be providing an omniscient voice to push Sabina along, but perhaps the device would be more effective if employed less frequently. Still, it brings something novel and dreamlike to the story and adds a unique aspect to the reawakening of Sabina’s artistic expression and understanding.
A soothing portrayal of self-discovery for readers who enjoy relatable female characters.Pub Date: June 10, 2025
ISBN: 9781647429140
Page Count: 296
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 30, 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
SEEN & HEARD
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
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