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
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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