A richly detailed, if rather dizzying, tale of a spirited hero’s adventures.
The offbeat second daughter of a French mother and a Montana-born Marine recounts her struggles and romances in this contemporary novel.
In a Manhattan coffee shop, a writer named Burgess shares a table with Johanna von Eschenbach, a stranger. She reveals she has been wishing to tell her life story, so Burgess and Johanna meet for recording sessions, which result in the first-person novel that follows. Johanna begins her tale describing how she is the child of stunning Frenchwoman Marie-Aude and handsome Robert von Eschenbach, a Marine of German descent. Johanna and her older sister, Roberta, live in Wisconsin, where Marie-Aude has attained a post as a university professor. Johanna’s tempestuous parents finally separate when she is 2 years old, and she spends time in Montana with Robert when he is on leave. Her mother, also a talented pianist, favors the more traditionally attractive and accomplished Roberta. Thus, Johanna “learned very young that Roberta was Mom’s girl, and I was Dad’s.” Johanna becomes an adventurous sportswoman and spunky “Montana cowgirl” under Robert’s tutelage, at one point pulling out a shotgun from behind a bar as her strong yet gentle father seeks to defuse obnoxious patrons. Then, when Johanna is 12, her Montana and Wisconsin life balance shatters. She manages to move toward a surprising new closeness with her mother and then, after humiliating and healing sexual encounters near the end of high school, continues on to college and then a corporate law career. Along the way, she connects with several men, including someone similar to her father who also happens to have enduring ties to Roberta. Later, Johanna, facing physical challenges, experiences deep despair but then bright hope for the future.
Author Burgess notes that this book is a “first excursion into biographic story-telling” after penning some fantasy and “adventure romance” novels. Johanna’s story is certainly action-packed, with the fictional Burgess of the prologue at one point rightly noting that her tale is “an emotional rollercoaster.” This novel is a rather rollicking melodrama of “what’s going to happen next?” to Johanna, with her ending up having wide-ranging and exciting experiences, including romances with a struggling but soon-to-be famous Irish singer and a rich Swiss banker. Both affairs result in her taking the stage to participate in musical performances. Johanna is an appealing hero, not only pulling out that shotgun, but also waving a shovel to warn off attackers of a nerdy boyfriend. She brushes off being described in high school as someone “who looks like a boy in drag” by noting “my tits are small...I am what I am.” But the story gets a bit overstuffed with plot points, with two near rapes and two bouts of cancer to contend with, plus the uncovering of a love child. The period setting of the tale is a bit hazy, although texting is mentioned. Overall, this story is pulled along by its never-boring first-person protagonist, who lives up to how the fictional Burgess describes her: “There was something about her that arrested my eye, made me want to know her.”
A richly detailed, if rather dizzying, tale of a spirited hero’s adventures.Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2021
ISBN: 9798778715165
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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