A reserved but powerful effort from the accomplished British novelist.
Three people navigate love and heartbreak in early-21st-century Catalonia.
The latest novel from English author Thomson is made up of three interconnected stories. The first follows Amy, an Englishwoman who meets Abdel, a much younger Moroccan immigrant sex worker, after he’s been raped by a client. The two begin an affair that’s brought to an end after one of the woman’s neighbors assaults the young man; the incident has tragic consequences that upend the lives of both Amy and Abdel. The second section tells the heartbreaking story of Nacho, a businessman who lives with his girlfriend, Cristiani, and her young son, Aristides, in the Barcelona suburb of Castelldefels. Nacho favors the area for its “low-level buzz, a foxiness, a slightly sleazy cool.” He spends most of his time drinking at a club until he meets the soccer star Ronaldinho, who asks Nacho to teach him Spanish. As he spends time with the legendary midfielder, Cristiani and Aristides start drifting away from him; the section ends in an almost unbearably heartbreaking way, causing the reader to question everything that came before. The final installment follows Jordi, a translator who forms an unlikely friendship with his neighbor, a mysterious and sleazy businessman who’s convinced a piece of furniture he bought is possessed. The relationship causes strain with a childhood friend on whom the translator’s always had a crush. The stories are loosely connected—a character named Montse is Amy’s best friend, Nacho’s ex-wife, and a publisher who works with Jordi, and a few characters from certain sections pop up in others. Thomson’s prose is unadorned but effective—at one point, Amy muses of Abdel, “He made me feel younger just by being himself. Sometimes I felt younger than he was.” He writes with a cleareyed compassion and never forces moments; everything in the novel feels organic. Thomson inhabits the voices of his characters perfectly; each section is narrated in the first person, and each perspective feels unique. It’s a quiet and unassuming novel even in its most dramatic moments—fans of Thomson and of literary fiction are likely to find this trip to Barcelona well worth taking.
A reserved but powerful effort from the accomplished British novelist.Pub Date: June 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-63542-042-5
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Other Press
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
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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