Nwabineli’s debut is deeply moving, tender, and, against all odds, funny.
A young widow comes to terms with her husband’s sudden death.
College sweethearts Eve and Quentin, affectionately called Q, have been happily married for 10 years, living in London. When Eve discovers her husband’s body on New Year’s Eve, her life’s trajectory—and their life together—is cleaved down the center into Before and After. Quentin, born to the White, “semi-royal” Morrow family, has died by suicide—and Eve had no idea he was even suffering. Eve’s world shrinks down to nearly nothing as she navigates her pain, sadness, and guilt. Her close Nigerian family and best friend, Bee, hover close while she refuses to do anything or eat anything other than pain-numbing pills. Without a suicide note, Eve and those closest to Q, including his mother, Aspen—who has always been horrible to Eve and who becomes even worse in the wake of her son’s death—struggle to understand how this could happen. As months pass, Eve knows that her family hopes and prays she will soon feel like herself again, and she begins to resent them despite herself: “To grieve is to frighten the people you love.” An accidental discovery made halfway through the novel changes the course of Eve’s life once again. The novel’s second half offers a slow, hard-earned journey toward healing, which is aided by a well-wrought cast of characters who offer Eve opportunities to figure out who she is now, without Q. Though some readers may find the book unrelenting, Nwabineli’s stunning insight and prose offer a true and honest portrayal of grief as vast, unending, and ever changing; she also meditates on themes of forgiveness, hope, and the endless love of family and friends.
Nwabineli’s debut is deeply moving, tender, and, against all odds, funny.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-525-89980-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Graydon House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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
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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