A melancholy read despite a glimmer of hope toward the end.
A Norwegian writer finds himself struggling to get his life together after the double whammy of his parents' and brothers' deaths in a tragic ship fire and the end of his 15-year marriage a year later.
Arvid Jansen is a recurring character and something of an alter ego in Pettersen’s fiction. The author's parents and brother died in an actual ferry disaster in 1990; his novel In The Wake (2002) concentrates on Arvid’s relationship with his father and his guilt and grief surrounding the deaths. In the newer novel, the focus is largely on the aftermath of Arvid’s divorce from his wife, Turid, and his longing for his three young daughters, whom he now rarely sees for reasons that may be of his own making. Arvid is 43 in In The Wake, and the final section of the new novel finds him at the same age, but for most of the (in)action, which takes place over the course of one Sunday a year after Turid and the girls left, he's looking back at himself at 38. (The missing years between 38 and 43 might be another novel.) Turid calls him early that morning. Stranded and desperate, she asks for his help getting home because “I have no one else,” a statement he disbelieves. Whether his marriage’s failure was his fault remains unclear, but while dutifully helping Turid get home, and later picking up his daughters—left with a babysitter he doesn’t trust—Arvid stews over his life, reexperiencing nonchronological bits and pieces of aimlessness and missed connections. Though he's published three books and received a grant to write his big factory novel, he currently spends most of his time picking up women at bars or roaming the countryside alone in his beloved Mazda, psychologically adrift; American readers may have more trouble following the physical geography of Norway he covers exhaustively than the depressed, self-absorbed, but beautifully articulated meanderings of his mind.
A melancholy read despite a glimmer of hope toward the end.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64445-075-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Graywolf
Review Posted Online: Nov. 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
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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