A captivating work of historical fiction, intellectually stimulating and dramatically engrossing.
Mastro’s historical novel dramatizes the romantic life of Mary Wollstonecraft, the great 18th-century feminist, and her defense of the French Revolution.
In 1787, Mary Wollstonecraft is fired from her position as governess of three young women on the charge of being overly progressive; the incident is a microcosm of her uphill struggle to affect “an end to women’s blind obedience.” She returns to London to pursue her ambition to become a writer, and with the encouragement of publisher Joseph Johnson, she establishes a reputation as a radical reformer, especially with her Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792. However, despite her own efforts to control her passions, she becomes infatuated with the married artist Henry Fuseli. He indiscreetly boasts of her attachment to him, an embarrassment that threatens to ruin her good reputation. Obsessed with the ongoing revolution in France, she exiles herself to Paris, a tinderbox of political violence, and risks being imprisoned, as all foreigners are seen as potential spies. In this gripping “work of fiction told in chronological order” focusing on Wollstonecraft’s “late-blooming love affairs,” the legendary feminist is torn between the need to flee an increasingly unsafe Paris and her attachment to Captain Gilbert Imlay, an American adventurer and fellow writer. This account of Wollstonecraft’s life deftly manages to be both literarily inventive and faithful to the facts of her life. A fiercely independent woman dedicated to the liberty of women everywhere, Wollstonecraft in these pages struggles to reconcile her ideal of “rational love” with the consuming carnal desires she experiences. Mastro also thoughtfully depicts her intellectual crisis regarding the French Revolution; initially, she was enthusiastically in favor of it and pilloried Edmund Burke’s famous critique. But later, as the Revolution devolved into violence and tyranny, she came to wonder if he was actually right. The author’s prose authentically captures the dialogue of the time and powerfully evokes the contradictions that make Wollstonecraft’s legacy so richly complex.
A captivating work of historical fiction, intellectually stimulating and dramatically engrossing.Pub Date: Feb. 20, 2025
ISBN: 9781685135614
Page Count: 319
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 5, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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