A moving evocation of life in a time of terror, as seen through innocent eyes.
In Ethiopian writer Sibhat’s debut novel, a young girl chronicles civil war and ethnic division in the 1980s.
Selam Asmelash comes into the world with what, says a sister, is “a very large, abnormally sized head.” Her father asks what’s the matter with that, and the sibling, as if a sibyl, replies, “You’ll see.” Selam’s appearance will later prove a cause for schoolyard bullying, but for the moment, thoughtful beyond her years, she decides on a couple of things: She’s not going to walk until she’s good and ready, and she’s not going to be fooled by political rhetoric, as when, still a toddler, she proclaims of the new constitutional freedoms “Comrade Chairman” promises over the radio, “Liar.” Selam is not the only one resisting the alternate realities the regime promotes: Her grandmother, for example, holds up a black bar of soap sold in a government shop and demands of the dictator in faraway Addis Ababa, “He needs to tell us whether this is really soap or his shit in a package!” Selam, the conscience of the tale, finds her bête noire in, appropriately enough, a government functionary whom she calls Rectangle-Head, but there are other foes: the villagers who throw rocks at their house because her family is Protestant; the rebel army that arrives during an uprising against the regime, so quick to commit atrocities that, says Selam, “I am terrified of them even more than I used to be of comrade Rectangle-Head, whom I don’t even think about anymore.” Long since fully ambulatory, Selam, in Sibhat’s touching conclusion, puts aside these murderous squabbles of adults as the childish things they are and decides instead that she’s going to be a star soccer striker, scoring goals for all the dead of her family and village and even one for God, “the madman who created so much chaos while desperate to escape aloneness.”
A moving evocation of life in a time of terror, as seen through innocent eyes.Pub Date: June 27, 2023
ISBN: 9780593298619
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
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
© Copyright 2026 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.
