A fascinating look at the dark side of female friendship.
Three women unwittingly welcome a sinister presence into their friendship, wreaking havoc on their lives.
Ronke, Boo, and Simi have been friends for 17 years, since they met at university in Bristol. All mixed-raced Nigerian British women, they bonded over their shared identities. But now, at 35, though they remain constant presences in each other's lives, they're on very different paths: Ronke is a successful dentist, but she can’t get her flaky boyfriend, Kayode, to commit; Boo is married to mild-mannered Didier, with whom she shares precocious 5-year-old Sofia, but she feels trapped by their domestic routine; Simi is happily married to her husband, Martin, but she struggles with impostor syndrome at work and with Martin’s desire to have a child she’s not sure she’ll ever be ready for. Then Isobel enters their lives. When Simi’s childhood friend suddenly reappears, she ingratiates herself with the group. Flashy and wealthy, at first Isobel seems to offer excitement and encouragement to each of the women in turn. But when the foundations of the three friends’ lives grow more unsteady, her presence lurks in the cracks. The author builds a propulsive reading experience as she slowly reveals Isobel’s manipulations while keeping the reasons behind them hidden. Compelling character studies of each of the women don’t shy away from the jealousies and judgments that sometimes make the line between friend and enemy razor thin. But once the climax is reached, it’s clear that not all the narrative pieces fit together. Dropped threads (Ronke deals with a stalker who has no bearing on the overall plot; discussions of colorism and internalized racism are never fully explored) and missed opportunities (Isobel is written as a caricature of destruction, with no voice of her own) keep the book from greatness.
A fascinating look at the dark side of female friendship.Pub Date: Jan. 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-308424-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Custom House/Morrow
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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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