A rich, engrossing portrait of a mother and daughter fencing their way toward a truce.
A woman’s life collapses after she reconnects with her brilliant but cold mother in Gentin’s knotty novel of broken families.
Jessica Harmon, an unhappy 30-year-old book editor in New York City, breaks out of her rut in the worst possible way by quitting her job and breaking up with her perfect boyfriend when his marriage proposal triggers her fear of commitment. Seeking the roots of her dysfunction, she accompanies her poetry professor mother, Cynthia, on a nationwide tour after she wins a coveted prize for her new collection of verse. Cynthia is a great poet who wows fans with her readings, but her daughter knows her as “the most self-obsessed person ever to walk the halls of academia or the streets of the Upper West Side.” When Jessica was younger, Cynthia told her a dubious story about her father getting killed by falling debris before she was born; brought home a parade of lovers; left her with the housekeeper while gallivanting across Europe; and, worst of all, discouraged Jessica’s literary aspirations: “‘You’re a competent writer.’ She paused. ‘Talent?’ Cynthia answered her own question with a shrug.” Then Cynthia is felled by a debilitating stroke, which prompts a reboot of Jessica’s life as she cares for her mother, rekindles a romance with a college flame, and investigates her parentage and Cynthia’s traumatic freshman year at Yale. Gentin’s yarn centers on an intriguingly conflicted mother-daughter duo—both prickly, proud, insecure, and secretly wounded. Cynthia’s transformation is gripping as she goes from someone with an intimidating command of language to a person whose brain can barely summon words to express thoughts. Gentin conveys the pair’s story in vivid, evocative, sensual prose, as when Jessica observes Cynthia’s hypnotic effect on both men and women: “it was Cynthia’s body language that mesmerized….with a penetrating glance, a slight tilt of her hips, or the momentary brush of her fingertip on her breast—so fleeting you thought you’d imagined it, except your mouth is dry and you can barely swallow.” Readers will root for Jessica to emerge from Cynthia’s shadow—and forgive her, as well.
A rich, engrossing portrait of a mother and daughter fencing their way toward a truce.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781645386209
Page Count: 280
Publisher: Ten16 Press
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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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