Female power mixes with the occult in this bumpy tale.
A woman goes to extremes to gain access to her heart’s desires: community and control.
Oona believes she is cursed. And while to most people the idea of a curse may seem farfetched, for Oona, who was raised by a group of self-proclaimed witches, it’s a distinct possibility. She grew up on Marrow Island, off the coast of Maine, at the Bare Root Fertility Center, owned and operated by her mother, Ursula. This fertility center is staffed by midwives who call themselves witches, and who treat their clients—both those who are giving birth at the center, and those who are desperate to get pregnant—with a mixture of holistic and (supposedly) otherworldly medicines. Unfortunately, Ursula doesn’t believe that Oona has the gift of magic, and so Oona spent her childhood on the outskirts, desperate to find a way in, until eventually she was kicked out under mysterious circumstances. As an adult Oona realizes that her way back into the coven is the same as any other woman’s: She needs to be pregnant. But Oona is plagued by a series of miscarriages. She believes these miscarriages aren’t an accident of biology but instead are a curse by her late childhood friend, Daphne, who Oona thinks is punishing her for an attempted spell gone wrong. When Oona is once again pregnant, she successfully sneaks her way back into Bare Root under disguise, attempting to atone for her past and gain entry into her coveted coven. The first half of the novel is a frustrating combination of convoluted and slow. Once Oona begins to uncover some dark secrets at the fertility center, though, Shea finds her footing and the reader will mostly be hooked.
Female power mixes with the occult in this bumpy tale.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9780593851951
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
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
Great crime fiction.
An apparent suicide threatens to destroy an Irish farm town in the final volume of French’s Cal Hooper trilogy.
In the fictional western Ireland townland of Ardnakelty, “there’s a girl going after missing.” Soon young Rachel Holohan is found dead in the river. Shortly before, she had stopped at Lena Dunne’s home, and nothing had seemed amiss. The medical examiner determines she’d swallowed antifreeze, and he presumes she then fell from a bridge into the water. The medical examiner and the town agree she’d died by suicide. But there is far more to the plot: 16-year-old Trey Reddy thinks Tommy Moynihan murdered Rachel. Moynihan doles out favors and punishments to the local townsfolk, who know it’s best not to cross him. Now rumors spread that Moynihan wants land and has a secret plan to forcibly buy up parcels from the locals. A factory will be built, or a great big data center, or who knows what. If Tommy’s son, Eugene, can get elected to the local council, then compulsory purchase orders for land will follow, and the farms will disappear. Eugene, who’d been romantically involved with Rachel, is wonderfully described as “on the weedy edge of good-looking” and just fine as long as you “don’t have high expectations in the way of chins.” Lena is engaged to the American Cal Hooper, an ex-cop turned woodworker. They are “more or less raising” Trey, and these three core characters are drawn into the mystery of Rachel’s death and may have to face the looming clouds of civilizational change for Ardnakelty. Lena is chastised for “asking your wee questions all round the townland,” and Trey wants to quit school, against Cal’s advice. Finally, the story’s best line: “You can’t go killing people just because they deserve it.”
Great crime fiction.Pub Date: March 31, 2026
ISBN: 9780593493465
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
