West gives us a glimpse of an insular world, but it’s not much more than a glimpse.
A debut novel about patriarchal religion and faith healing.
Every summer, Miriam Horton’s family travels to midsized cities throughout the South so that her father can preach and heal. The summer of her 15th year is different, though. During the previous revival season, the Rev. Samuel Horton had assaulted a pregnant teen, and it seems that the Black evangelical community has not forgotten. Frustrated that he is no longer drawing large crowds, Samuel lashes out at those who seek his help and at his family. Miriam is navigating the spiraling violence within her home when she discovers that she has the power to heal—an ability she must keep secret from her father, who believes that a healing ministry is for men only. West delineates several sources of tension here, but she doesn’t explore any of them in depth. For example, Samuel’s fall from being one of the most sought-after preachers on the Southern Baptist circuit makes him angry and abusive, but Miriam doesn’t tell us much about what life was like when her father was ascendent. Did she, her mother, and her siblings enjoy a status that they have now lost? Do they feel shame or resentment? Another issue is that, while momentous things happen, they seldom have serious or lasting consequences. Miriam heals her best friend of Type 1 diabetes, but then the illness returns. Miriam keeps on healing people who find out about her gift, but it’s not clear what the results of her efforts are. Does she have the power to heal or doesn’t she? The author can certainly choose not to answer this question, but it’s weird that Miriam herself isn’t much troubled by it. But, then again, Miriam doesn’t have much depth, and the characters who surround her are barely developed at all. The people in this novel exist to serve the plot.
West gives us a glimpse of an insular world, but it’s not much more than a glimpse.Pub Date: June 15, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-982133-30-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
Gleefully sadistic, gloriously gratifying revenge fiction.
A frustrated advice columnist takes matters into her own hands.
Before dropping out of MIT during the second semester of her sophomore year, Debbie Mullen had designs on becoming the next Bill Gates. Now, almost 30 years later, the stay-at-home wife and mother of two uses her considerable genius to keep the Mullens’ Hingham, Massachusetts, household functioning “like a well-oiled machine.” In her spare time, Debbie also gardens and shares “the fruits of [her] wisdom” with neighbors via the weekly advice column she writes for Hingham Household, a local “family-oriented” newspaper. Though Debbie is proud of her husband and teen daughters’ accomplishments, her own life sometimes feels a bit empty. As such, she’s both honored and excited when Home Gardening magazine selects her backyard to feature in their next issue. Then, at the last minute, the publication decides to go in a different direction and instead spotlights the roses of her arch rival. Later that day, the editor-in-chief of Hingham Household axes her column because she’d counseled a reader to get a divorce. That evening, Debbie learns that her hard-working husband’s miserly boss refused his promotion request, her brilliant older daughter’s sketchy boyfriend broke her heart, and her athletically gifted younger daughter’s chauvinistic coach cut her from the soccer team for being “chubby.” Enough is enough. Debbie has always given great advice—everybody says so. If certain individuals don’t know what’s best for themselves, maybe it’s her obligation to help them see the light. Increasingly unhinged entries from a “Dear Debbie” drafts folder pepper the briskly paced, meticulously crafted tale, which unfolds courtesy of a pinwheeling first-person narrative. Some of the plot’s myriad twists are more impressive than others, but plucky, puckish Debbie is a nontraditional antihero for the ages.
Gleefully sadistic, gloriously gratifying revenge fiction.Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249624
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
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
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