A unique journey into 18th-century French history with a hero that readers cannot help but root for.
Flinn’s historical novella, the first in a series, explores the choices and wishes of a young, free Black woman in 18th-century France.
In Burgundy, France, in the year 1788, Véronique Clair is 23 years old and a worry to her parents. Desperate to see her married and her future secured, Véronique’s father travels to nearby areas of the country to find a suitable match for his daughter. Though it is the wish of her parents—her father, born into enslavement in Saint Dominque, now free, and her free Black mother, born in France—that she find a husband, Véronique is not so sure. She works as a servant, or domestique, but she wonders if she might find opportunities through work instead, especially given her talent for making clothes; she would prefer to marry for love rather than for convenience (“I thought about what I’d just seen in church and what I’d been seeing over the years. All my childhood girlfriends were married but, as the years rolled by, they weren’t setting a good example for why I should be”). The author highlights the limited options available to the less-wealthy women of 18th-century French society, particularly Black women working as servants, with Véronique’s first-person narration soberly relating to the reader that all “women servants were prey but black women even more so.” This is an impressively researched novella, though it also feels very abbreviated and the prose can be a little terse in its description of events. Despite this, Flinn manages to situate her hero effectively throughout the swift progression of the plot, which sees Véronique, threatened with ruin due to a lustful guest of her employer, enter the household of the rich noblewoman Martin, who seems to be the key to Véronique figuring out her future. The brief text leaves the reader wishing for more and anticipating an exciting and highly original series.
A unique journey into 18th-century French history with a hero that readers cannot help but root for.Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2022
ISBN: 9798986060019
Page Count: 78
Publisher: Gilded Orange Books
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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