Tshuma’s novel is cerebral yet passionate, a heady stew of science, family drama, and political intrigue.
Zimbabwe-born Tshuma explores astrophysics and the politics of both Africa and the U.S. through the lens of a young physicist whose memories of her dead father have shaped her life.
In Athandwa Rosa Siziba’s memory, her father, Frank, is heroic: a renowned professor and astronomer who traveled to the International Space Station, a philosopher whose cryptic stories inspired as much as they mystified her. The hard truth is, Athandwa barely knew him. He moved to America shortly after her birth, leaving her with her mother in Zimbabwe. When she was 11—a year before he died—she paid her single visit to him in New York. The memory remains indelible 12 years later when she arrives to do graduate study in the same elite science program he attended. Soon her romantic notions of the U.S. are challenged by uncomfortable questions concerning race, political consciousness, and scientific ethics. In Zimbabwe, tribal membership categorized Athandwa’s identity, not the color of her skin. But as her new boyfriend points out, “Here in America, you’re Black.” (He himself is Haitian, the son of Frank’s former lover, and he too worshipped Frank.) Politics here can’t be separated from science. Expect to learn about fungi and Greek astronomy as well as Frank’s philosophic musings on Bantu geometries as an answer to what he called “Euclidean austerity.” Meanwhile, the issue of identity takes a different shape in the unsolved mystery of why an idealist scientist like Frank was closely connected to an obscenely rich military entrepreneur and a sinister Zimbabwean political operative. At heart Tshuma’s novel is about Athandwa’s personal struggle to find herself as “The Terrors” that have troubled her since Frank’s death build toward a crisis. Observant, ambitious, obedient, stubborn, also at times purposely oblivious—what a thorny mix she is.
Tshuma’s novel is cerebral yet passionate, a heady stew of science, family drama, and political intrigue.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9781324035176
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 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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