Looking back is the only way to move forward in this poignant meditation on loss.
A family novel focuses on rehabilitating ruptured ties and weaving new ones.
When the world looks at Richard Morris, it sees a successful novelist. But he is also a father and an ex-husband who has only glimpsed his son “a handful of times” in 20 years. When an attorney calls Richard and tells him that his ex-wife, Irene, is dying of cancer and would like him to be the executor of her estate, he is puzzled, but he hopes for a chance to rebuild his relationship with his son. Richard visits Irene in a hospice and learns that she has built an art collection worth more than $2 million. The focal point of the collection is a mysterious William Sidney Mount painting that had disappeared from public view until Irene’s attorney—once a suitor, now a friend—bought it at a Bridgehampton barn sale on Long Island and gave it to her without knowing its worth. As Richard learns more about the painting, he is glad that Irene has given him one “last, brief chance to be her husband.” But he also has to finish revising his new manuscript, which just happens to be “thinly veiled fiction about a youthful love affair and a ten-year marriage that end in bitter sadness.” He is pleased to find that his daughter-in-law and grandchildren welcome his appearance, but there is a mysterious tension surrounding his son, Henry. As Richard connects with meaningful people and places from his past, his life and the management of Irene’s estate become exponentially more complex. And that’s before the painting vanishes. Crooke’s restrained, subtle prose allows the plot to move swiftly, and Richard is a well-drawn protagonist. The supporting characters might be more believable with less dialogue and more characterization, and for a story set on Long Island’s East End, there are relatively few glimpses of the landscape and the white sails that “speckle the blue Long Island Sound.” But the solemn novel’s marriage of Long Island lore, art history, and family drama is ultimately a moving one.
Looking back is the only way to move forward in this poignant meditation on loss.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-956692-25-9
Page Count: 350
Publisher: Unsolicited Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.
A French art historian’s English-language fiction debut combines the story of a loving relationship between a grandfather and granddaughter with an enlightening discussion of art.
One day, when 10-year-old Mona removes the necklace given to her by her now-dead grandmother, she experiences a frightening, hour-long bout of blindness. Her parents take her to the doctor, who gives her a variety of tests and also advises that she see a psychiatrist. Her grandfather Henry tells her parents that he will take care of that assignment, but instead, he takes Mona on weekly visits to either the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Centre Pompidou, where each week they study a single work of art, gazing at it deeply and then discussing its impact and history and the biography of its maker. For the reader’s benefit, Schlesser also describes each of the works in scrupulous detail. As the year goes on, Mona faces the usual challenges of elementary school life and the experiences of being an only child, and slowly begins to understand the causes of her temporary blindness. Primarily an amble through a few dozen of Schlesser’s favorite works of art—some well known and others less so, from Botticelli and da Vinci through Basquiat and Bourgeois—the novel would probably benefit from being read at a leisurely pace. While the dialogue between Henry and the preternaturally patient and precocious Mona sometimes strains credulity, readers who don’t have easy access to the museums of Paris may enjoy this vicarious trip in the company of a guide who focuses equally on that which can be seen and the context that can’t be. Come for the novel, stay for the introductory art history course.
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798889661115
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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
SEEN & HEARD
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