Overlong and slow-paced, but compelling despite its flaws.
Griffith picks up Hild's story where her eponymous 2013 novel left off.
When last we saw Hild, she had just been made the Lady of Elmet. She and her new husband (and half brother), Cian Boldcloak, are responsible for holding southern Northumbre for her uncle Edwin, the king. The 7th century was a tumultuous time in Britain. Regional rulers like Edwin clashed as they sought to control the whole island and Christian priests vied with old gods. Hild survived a perilous childhood by making a reputation as a seer and, later, by becoming a fierce warrior. What she wants isn’t power; it’s a safe home for those she loves and those in her care. She knows that war is coming, and leading her people through it will require foresight, cunning, and terrible sacrifice. As she did in Hild, Griffith offers a richly textured vision of life in early-medieval Britain. She takes incredible care in the language she uses, avoiding modern metaphors and generally choosing words of Germanic or Celtic origin over Latinate words. She also dots her text with terms straight from Old English, which has the wonderfully paradoxical effect of pulling the reader into Hild’s universe while reminding us that this place is, for us, strange and ultimately irrecoverable. And there are moments of exquisite poetry throughout the text, particularly in descriptions of the natural world. Where this book falters is in its length, its pace, and a list of characters that will be unmanageable for most readers. For example, the first quarter of the book—almost 200 pages—describes the lead-up to a war between Edwin and rival kings. The political machinations are not easy to follow; nor are they, ultimately, very enlightening. Most of the conversations among Hild, Edwin, and other powerful players are about what they don’t know and, given that the text seldom strays from Hild’s point of view, the reader receives no insights that she doesn’t have. There’s also a tremendous amount of repetition. The word “seax”—a type of knife—occurs 92 times in this novel and, in most instances, Hild is grasping hers or adjusting hers or drawing attention to hers because she feels uneasy or wishes to assert her power. And every time she does it, she becomes more of a figure from pantomime than a real and singular woman.
Overlong and slow-paced, but compelling despite its flaws.Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9780374208080
Page Count: 736
Publisher: MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
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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