An entertaining and imaginative canine tale with some well-targeted social messaging.
Two rescued basset hounds with unique abilities take center stage in this novella.
The Watsons (Henry, Miranda, and their two children, 11-year-old Lydia and 10-year-old Lewis) are sitting at their breakfast table when they hear the engine of Henry’s old Jaguar XK-120 roadster roar. Sitting at the wheel is Fred, the younger of the two basset hounds they have adopted from a rescue shelter. By his side is Phoebe. Both bassets are wearing driving goggles, and they are off on a chaotic joyride that will rattle the quiet little village of Harmony. The unconventional Watsons, relative newcomers to Harmony, live in a ramshackle, Gothic structure high on a hill overlooking the village and have been the subject of suspicion among the gossips. Henry is an eccentric loner who works on new contraptions in his workshop, including a clever refitting of the Jaguar that makes it possible for the bassets to drive. Johnson describes Miranda as a “psychic and prognosticator,” and among her talents is the ability to whip up special Native American remedies and recipes. Realizing the bassets possess remarkable skills, she begins preparing a mixture of “Basset Brain Broth,” which increases their powers to communicate with their humans telepathically and sometimes even vocally. Johnson’s humorously quirky, free-wheeling novella follows the escapades of these precocious pooches. And along the way, he pens a biting takedown of the “harmony” in small-town life, as villagers divide into pro-canine and anti-canine contingents. The latter group is headed by the story’s chief villain, the black-coated, black-hatted Rev. Earnest O. Treadwell, a character whose rants eventually become tiresome. The thinly veiled parody of today’s divided social landscape—and the harm caused by bigotry and religious intolerance—has several moments of true poignancy, as when the bassets are unfairly accused of causing a fire and run away into the dangerous woods. So, there will be a few tears. The charming, feel-good work is best as a chapter book for the younger set, but it also offers passionate dog lovers an amusing, offbeat, wish-fulfillment fantasy.
An entertaining and imaginative canine tale with some well-targeted social messaging.Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2022
ISBN: 9781639885640
Page Count: 92
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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