An earnest, if sometimes-messy, novel of adoption.
Two women search for their biological fathers in Kriegman’s third novel in a series.
Florida resident Sol Morris is shocked when he gets a call from a stranger informing him that he fathered a daughter in Thailand with a sex worker many years ago, while her was serving in Vietnam in the early 1970s: “There wasn’t much to say about the arrangement…I got a jeep and I went to one of those fishbowls where you go to hire a ‘short-term girlfriend.’ ” She gave birth to a daughter who was adopted by an American couple. Now, in 2024, Susan Piper is married with three children of her own, and she’s investigating her origins. Meanwhile, Faith Givvers gets some unexpected news of her own: that her biological father is Native American, and that her birth mother is still alive and has been trying to get in touch with her. Faith’s search for details of her past is intertwined with Susan’s desire to get to know Sol, and the lives of all four people are changed forever. Readers with a personal relationship to adoption will likely get the most out of Faith’s and Susan’s tales. Kriegman’s painterly prose captures the nerves and ambivalence of meeting family members for the first time: “Susan got there first and asked for a booth in the back. The booth, the walls, and the narrow hanging lamps were all oranges and browns. It was a good, cozy place to meet. A few minutes later she saw him come through the door and recognized him right away.” The novel isn’t structured chronologically; instead, it jumps around in time as well as among major characters’ perspectives. Sometimes this creates intriguing contrasts, as when Susan’s perspective of the above meeting is informed by Sol’s previous experience of the same scene. At other times, though, the structure muddles the timeline and confuses the narrative.
An earnest, if sometimes-messy, novel of adoption.Pub Date: June 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-73794-774-5
Page Count: 280
Publisher: Reunion Land Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2022
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
© Copyright 2025 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.
