A great novel: Beautifully written, timely, and as enjoyable as it is heartbreaking.
Domestic strife in his adopted city of Chicago proves a fleeting distraction from the atrocities that Jamal—now Jack—Shaban and Dimra, his traditional Muslim wife, left behind in a Gaza refugee camp.
When they fled Gaza two decades ago, against her parent’s wishes, the couple had hoped for a bright future in the Windy City that included children. But Dimra’s series of miscarriages and crippling illness have compromised that dream. The nonreligious Jack, who dutifully manages their condo association in addition to working as a flight attendant, is further burdened by the endless noise of complaining residents including a newly arrived single mother, Marcia, who is livid about her foul basement unit. Compared to the pain and suffering in Gaza, which “had become bodies removed from shattered homes, wreathed in blood and concrete dust,” life in the U.S. is a walk in the park. But that walk becomes bumpy when Jack poses as gay at work to avoid getting romantically involved with a vivacious friend called Birdy—and the desperate Marcia begins using Dimra as daycare for her children for longer and longer stretches. The British-born Murr, who is of Lebanese descent, does a masterful job of bridging ordinary and extraordinary experience, achieving an unlikely balance between the stark tragedy of war and the gentle comedy of everyday people struggling with fate. “I’ve become the Occupied Territories,” Dimra says, sadly joking about the cancerous tumors inside her. Unlike his father, Jack is not political, but his head is unavoidably filled with images of Israel’s offenses. All of which makes a childhood memory of him and his book-loving mother “sobbing over the death of Beth March, Little Nell, or Lennie Small” while their camp was “filled with black smoke, tear gas, and shouts of protest” pretty unforgettable.
A great novel: Beautifully written, timely, and as enjoyable as it is heartbreaking.Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781324117902
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 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
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
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