A story of love and finding yourself that just slightly misses the mark.
A British man searches for his missing wife while reflecting on their lives together in this bittersweet tale.
Brian’s wife, Lily, disappeared from their pub six years ago and hasn’t been heard from since, though he keeps hoping that she’ll return one day. In the meantime, he spends his time chatting with Jeff, his one regular, and hoping his tiny staff will stay on board despite the increasingly negative reviews the pub is receiving online. One night while doing his obsessive daily check of the reviews, he ends up stumbling on the profile of someone who’s been commenting on places around the U.K. since about six months after Lily disappeared; her user name is the title of Lily’s favorite song and the year of her birth. Could it be Lily herself? Despite the state of the pub, Brian decides to head off in search of some sort of closure, following the reviews left by PinkMoonLily1970. Along the way, he connects with a woman named Tess who’s on her own journey of discovery; she’s thinking about ending her 20-plus-year marriage and decides to tag along with Brian while he shares his and Lily’s story with her. Roper is a good writer, able to evoke feelings with small turns of phrase, skilled at details that make a world and a relationship feel solid and lived in. Despite the potential tragedy inherent in the plot, the book is also very funny, from Jeff’s stories to Brian’s foibles and Lily’s sly wit in the stories Brian tells about her. The biggest downside is that Lily, the heart of the narrative, exists only in Brian’s memories rather than as a fully fleshed-out person in her own right. Though it’s clear why the book is framed this way, the absence of Lily is felt, and Tess, the other main female character, functions more in service to Brian’s story than as a character herself. This is such a good book that its stumbles feel bigger than they might otherwise.
A story of love and finding yourself that just slightly misses the mark.Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593540701
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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