This book is so funny that its poignant, elegiac side kind of sneaks up on you.
Making sense of the vicissitudes and mysteries of middle age with wit, intelligence, and a firm grounding in the spirit of New Orleans.
“I was plagued by remorse, but my remorse seemed inspired by insignificant dumb things—things not really worthy of bona fide remorse. That didn’t make it any less painful or plague-worthy, as I was still riddled with disgrace on a minute-by-minute basis; so I decided to conduct a scientific study to analyze the cause.” The “study” undertaken by Delery Anhalt in the pages of Lemann’s deeply adorable new novel consists of journal entries made between February 2021 and September 2023. Raised in New Orleans, now living in Washington, D.C., with her husband and teenage daughters, Delery is called home when her father has a health crisis—one which had been staved off for quite a while by his marriage to Delery’s best friend, Amelia, whose “fierce and reverent love” for the man gave him a new lease on life. Delery’s beloved father is an intellectual whose version of revelry is not partying at Mardi Gras but studying Ancient Greek and Latin fricatives. Yet he is nonetheless devoted to his city and characters like Curry Carter, a friend who serves duck sandwiches and champagne from his mansion on St. Charles Avenue to the kings and dukes of Carnival as they parade by. As her father did in the 1950s, Delery will face a heartbreaking betrayal, and she will copy his approach of soldiering on. After all, houseguests, in-laws, sarcastic children, the presidential helicopter, and a volunteer job monitoring justice in New Orleans criminal courts must all be dealt with: “Annoyance turns to wrath if you’re not careful. Not that wrath is so bad.” Lemann’s 1985 novel, Lives of the Saints, which focuses on the “wastrel youth” period of life in New Orleans, is being reissued alongside this new book, the better to appreciate the wonderful character of Claude Collier, who reappears here as Delery’s dear old friend and first love.
This book is so funny that its poignant, elegiac side kind of sneaks up on you.Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9798896230328
Page Count: 160
Publisher: New York Review Books
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
PERSPECTIVES
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 delightfully nostalgic novel about how the things we loved in the past have the power to shape our future.
A boy band cruise is the site of one woman’s post-divorce healing.
Annie never meant to end up alone on a Boy Talk cruise, but that’s exactly what happens when her sister breaks a leg and has to bow out of their vacation. Now Annie is sharing a cabin with a stranger, stuck on the cruise ship American Fantasy with the 1990s band—and thousands of their biggest fans, known as Talkers. Annie doesn’t consider herself a Talker, even if she was a fan back in the day. But reeling from a recent divorce and dealing with complex feelings about turning 50, Annie throws herself into the distraction of the trip. What she doesn’t expect is to truly connect with the music, the band, the other fans, and herself. As Annie observes, “This was why people turned to religion or watched the Super Bowl at a sports bar instead of alone in their living room. It felt good to be a part of something where your passion was celebrated instead of mocked.” All the Talkers dream of having a special bond with “the guys,” but when Annie actually does meet Keith, a Boy Talk member who’s clearly going through a hard time, she wonders if their connection is real or if she’s just as delusional as the other (mostly) women on the ship. Straub depicts a wonderfully immersive world aboard the American Fantasy, one where each woman assigns herself a favorite guy and everyone is bedecked in Boy Talk merch. For five days, the Talkers live in a fantasy world where the only thing that matters is their connection with a band that meant everything to them so many years ago. As Annie puts it, “Inside her head, which is where she heard the music, it had touched some lever so deep that it couldn’t be reversed…the music was a direct vein to her own childhood, the least complicated part of her life.”
A delightfully nostalgic novel about how the things we loved in the past have the power to shape our future.Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9798217046850
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
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