This beautifully assured novel interweaves the ghostly and the historical until both feel simultaneously real and imagined.
A tense, atmospheric gothic thriller set in an indeterminate city centers on two women, a Muslim servant and her British employer, in the aftermath of World War I.
When Soraya Matas secures a place with Mrs. Alice Hattingh of 23 Heron Place, she feels fortunate, especially after leaving her previous employment with the Edenburgs due to the husband’s unwelcome advances. Soraya’s family, including several younger siblings and parents who depend on her income, lives in the Quarter—a crowded and underserved area of a city that resembles Cape Town, South Africa. Like their neighbors, Soraya’s family follows a faith different from their colonizers; her father is a calligrapher who specializes in the rakams, or handwritten prayers that grace local homes. Mrs. Hattingh lets Soraya know of her prejudices, asking if the young woman can crochet: “I’m sure you have your people’s nimble fingers.” Soon after Soraya enters the room in which she’ll sleep, she knows that it’s haunted by a Gray Woman, a specter filled with rage and disappointment that she’s been able to see since childhood; in this case, she’s convinced it’s her unfortunate predecessor, Fatima. Although she finds her work dull and repetitive, Soraya initially enjoys the relative peace of Heron Place, especially as she’s able to return home once a fortnight. But Mrs. Hattingh grows peevish when she anticipates her son Timothy’s visit from England and orders Soraya to stay put. As a sop, she dangles the promise of writing letters to her servant’s betrothed, Nour, who is working on a farm in order to save money for teacher’s college. Both women are holding back information, which makes for a perfect storm of fury—yet there is no question that Alice Hattingh’s sins are greater and more destructive, even if driven by tragedy. This novel will remind readers that our world has been interconnected for a long time, and that the powerful affect those less so, even when there are oceans between them.
This beautifully assured novel interweaves the ghostly and the historical until both feel simultaneously real and imagined.Pub Date: Dec. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9781668090732
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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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