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
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A heartbreaking, laugh-provoking, and absolutely Ephron-esque look at the beauty and fragility of everyday life.
A woman faces a health crisis and obsesses over a local accident in this wonderful follow-up to Sandwich (2024).
Newman begins her latest with a quote from Nora Ephron: “Death is a sniper. It strikes people you love, people you like, people you know—it’s everywhere. You could be next. But then you turn out not to be. But then again, you could be.” It sets an appropriate tone for a story that is just as full of death and dread as it is laughter. Two years after the events of Sandwich, Rocky is back home in Western Massachusetts and happily surrounded by family—her daughter, Willa, lives with her and her husband, Nick, while applying to Ph.D. programs; her widowed father, Mort, has moved into the in-law apartment behind their house. When a young man who graduated from high school with Rocky’s son, Jamie, is hit by a train, Rocky finds herself spiraling as she thinks about how close the tragedy came to her own family. She’s also freaking out about a mysterious rash her dermatologist can’t explain. Both instances are tailor-made for internet research and stalking. As Rocky obsessively googles her symptoms and finds only bad news (“Here’s what’s true about the Internet: very infrequently do people log on with their good news. Gosh, they don’t write, I had this weird rash on my forearm? And it turned out to be completely nothing!”), she also compulsively checks the Facebook page of the accident victim’s mother. Newman excels at showing how sorrow and joy coexist in everyday life. She masterfully balances a modern exploration of grief with truly laugh-out-loud lines (one passage about the absurdity of collecting a stool sample and delivering it to the doctor stands out). As Rocky deals with the byzantine frustrations of the medical system, she also has to learn, once more, how to see her children, husband, father, and herself as fully flawed and lovable humans.
A heartbreaking, laugh-provoking, and absolutely Ephron-esque look at the beauty and fragility of everyday life.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9780063453913
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
PERSPECTIVES
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