A quiet novel that questions and upends the traditional marriage plot.
As their wedding approaches, a young couple—and their friends and family—wonder if they are making the right decision.
Celine and Luke are a newly engaged couple who are happy enough, though not exactly happy, in Dolan’s deeply Irish sophomore novel. Quietly introspective and dryly funny, the novel is broken up into six parts, with each of the first five narrated by a different character: Celine (“The Bride”), Phoebe (“The Bridesmaid”), Archie (“The Best Man”), Luke (“The Groom”), and Vivian (“The Guest”). In the last part, “Wedding Day,” Dolan begins to fasten off all the narrative threads she has been weaving throughout the novel. These unique viewpoints offer a bricolage of not only Celine and Luke’s relationship but also their relationships with their friends and family. Celine is a talented pianist whose first love is music; she tends to ignore Luke’s faults, which include his penchant for lying, disappearing, and being ambivalent. Phoebe would rather spend her time tracking down Luke than on bridesmaid duties, whereas Archie is loath to be best man because he’s in love with the groom. To round it all out, Vivian, a friend and ex-fling of Luke’s, offers a fairly objective perspective on the state of the couple's relationship on the morning of their wedding. Dolan’s characters feel irritatingly real in both their indecisiveness and their propensity for making poor decisions. The novel’s formal playfulness—which includes having Luke narrate through drafts of his unfinished wedding speech and showing Vivian’s past through her “encounters with paintings”—offers a fuller picture not only of the characters, but all of the social and cultural dynamics at play. Dolan writes beautifully about yearning and unhappiness: “Loneliness wasn’t having no one. Loneliness was the gap between what you hoped for and what you got.” Ultimately, Celine and Luke’s happiness depends on whether what they got is better than what they hoped for—and if loving one another is more important than being in love.
A quiet novel that questions and upends the traditional marriage plot.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780063330467
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Ecco/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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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