A well-crafted tale of self-discovery with a realistically flawed but compelling protagonist.
In Lacey’s novel, a feisty American film director turns her lens on a legendary French perfume house.
New Yorker Zandy Watson is an ambitious, confident 30-year-old associate producer at CNM Documentary Channel who has a plan to work her way up the ladder at her networkand become a director/producer. Then, she hopes, she can make “make a doc that matters,” including a dream project about climate change. Before that can happen, though, her boss insists that she first make a more lucrative film about artisanal perfume in France. She considers quitting, but she knows she can’t make her films on her own, so she takes the assignment. In the south of France, she finds herself intoxicated by the beauty of jasmine fields and the romantic history of perfume company Severin Frères. She initially butts heads with Dominique Severin, the slick CEO, over control of the film project, but chemistry crackles between him and the filmmaker from their first meeting. He’s intensely loyal to his family and its legacy and struggles to keep the business afloat in a world of cutthroat global commerce. His attempts to protect his family’s image only make Zandy more curious. When she uncovers secrets that may be disastrous for the perfumery, she’s reluctant to hide them, and the physical relationship that develops between Zandy and Dominique only complicates things further. Lacey directs the action with precision, expertly and concisely moving plotlines forward. She handles exposition skillfully and includes realistic details of Zandy’s creative and logistical tasks as a filmmaker. Most of the scenes, which are told from Zandy’s and Dominique’s alternating first-person perspectives, provide thoughtful character development and depict snappy encounters between the two leads. Although Dominique’s voice feels authentic, it’s Zandy who steals the show, as she’s willing to rethink her actions when necessary, which makes her a complex, tough, and relatable hero.
A well-crafted tale of self-discovery with a realistically flawed but compelling protagonist.Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9781647427641
Page Count: 256
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: June 25, 2024
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
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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