An unholy brew of lust and faith.
At a silent retreat in a secluded monastery, an unhappily married writer and a randy archbishop experience carnal—and spiritual—ecstasy.
Sybilla Sumner is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist whose personal life is cratering. At 39, she very much wants a child—but her husband, a famous New York TV interview host, is infertile, and the two haven’t had sex in forever. What’s more, she’s sure he’s cheating on her. James Fitzmaurice-Kelly, 53 and “extremely good-looking,” has risen above a dreary Irish childhood to become archbishop of Dublin, though he’s been critical of the Catholic church—especially its celibacy vows—in his writings. Fitz, as he’s known, has come to this Shenandoah Valley retreat to brood about his future and his role as a priest. Sybilla, a Catholic who struggles with her religion, is there to sort herself out and get away from her troubles. Fitz and Sybilla are acquainted socially—he’s been a guest on her husband’s show—but are shocked to find themselves in nearby rooms. They recover. When Sybilla breaks down sobbing in the chapel, Fitz is there to comfort her—and after he rescues her from a swimming mishap, they finally go for it. (Fitz had broken his vows earlier in his career, with a nun.) Author Quinn, who blogs about religion and was once the Washington Post’s star Style reporter (married to the paper’s late editor, Ben Bradlee), devotes a great deal of space to Fitz and Sybilla’s erotic couplings. It’s not exactly boring, and there is some suspense about how the affair will end up. It’s just that the narrative in general is so preposterous. Then there’s Sybilla’s overheated inner dialogue (“Yes, he was gorgeous. Spiritually I could only imagine.” Or, “He hadn’t shaved since we’d arrived and I found his stubble devastating.”) It doesn’t help that the book veers awkwardly between first-person (Sybilla’s story) and third (Fitz’s). Brief flashes of vivid storytelling, mainly in scenes set in Dublin, can’t compensate.
An unholy brew of lust and faith.Pub Date: June 3, 2025
ISBN: 9798891385528
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Subplot
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2025
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 debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.
A high school senior pursues an affair with her teacher.
Seventeen-year-old Waldo, the narrator of McCurdy’s fiction debut, lives in Anchorage, Alaska, with her mother, though she’s long been the parent in their relationship. She heats her own frozen meals and pays the bills on time while her mom chases man after man and makes well-meaning promises she never keeps. Waldo blows her Victoria’s Secret wages on online shopping sprees and binges on junk food, inevitably crashing after the fleeting highs of her indulgences. Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher, has “thinning hair and nose pores”; he’s 40 years old and married with a child. Nevertheless—or possibly as a result?—Waldo’s attraction to him is “instant. So sudden it’s alarming. So palpable it’s confusing.” Mr. Korgy professes to want to keep their friendship aboveboard, but after a sexual encounter at the school’s winter formal that she initiates, an affair begins. Will this reckless pursuit be the one that actually satisfies Waldo, and is she as mature as she thinks she is? Waldo is a keen observer of people and provides sharp commentary on the punishing work of female beauty. Readers of McCurdy’s bestselling memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died (2022), will surely be curious about the tumultuous mother-daughter relationship, and it is one of the novel’s highlights, full of realistic pity and anger and need. (“I want to scream at her. I want her to hug me.”) Unfortunately, the prose is often unwieldy and sometimes downright cringeworthy: When Waldo tells Mr. Korgy she loves him, “The words hang in the air in that constipated way they do when you know that you shouldn’t have said them.” Waldo frequently lists emotions and adjectives in triplicate, and events that could be significant aren’t sufficiently explored or given enough space to breathe before the novel races on to the next thing.
A debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780593723739
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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