A mesmerizing, contemplative, and haunting work of historical fiction.
Erotic romance, moviemaking audacity, and looming dread co-exist in this arresting fact-based novel set in Italy’s hazardous 1970s.
In the autumn of 1974, Nicholas Wade, a 22-year-old art student, needs to bolt his London digs hurriedly enough to ensure that he can be safely removed from “possible questions, speculation.” (About what isn’t said.) Nicholas crosses the English Channel and ends up in Venice, where he arouses the erotic interest of Danilo Donati, the celebrated costumer and production designer best known for his work with superstar directors Federico Fellini and Pier Paolo Pasolini. As it happens, Danilo is now working with both these eccentric and willful filmmakers on separate but equally incendiary projects: Fellini’s opulent biopic of Casanova and Pasolini’s graphic account of fascist sadism during World War II, Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom. Almost immediately after taking Nicholas as a lover, Danilo designates him as “my apprentice” and together they head for Rome and the fabled Cinecittà studios, where Nicholas meets the volatile, luminous Fellini and wins over the maestro and veteran craft workers with his drawings and designs. When the Casanova project stalls, Nicholas and Danilo travel to Mantua where Pasolini is working on Salò. In contrast with the boisterous, effusive Fellini, the way Pasolini speaks “is hypnotic: both his soft, whispery voice and the apocalyptic things he says.” One could say similar things about the spectral mood and tone pervading Laing’s novel, rife with sensuality, illuminating archival details about the Italian film industry, and disquieting intimations about the growing social and political unrest that in only a few years would grow in terror and bloodshed, forever marking the decade as the country’s Years of Lead. Pasolini’s brutal murder, the climactic tragedy that closes this saga, may well have been the first manifestation of such “lead,” though Laing’s command of suggestion and subtlety allows readers to make their own inferences.
A mesmerizing, contemplative, and haunting work of historical fiction.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9780374618315
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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
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
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