A captivating account of the lives of extraordinary women in perilous times.
A historical novel set in seventh-century England follows a new queen and the women of her court as they struggle to survive and prosper.
Princess Ethelberga of Kent marries King Edwin of Northumbria to form a political alliance between Edwin and her brother, Eadbald, the King of Kent. She’s disgusted by Northumbria, which she sees as a coarse backwoods, and by her new husband, an unrefined warrior who’s perpetually in search of new wars. However, she’s intent on securing a future for herself, so she plans to give the king an heir. Also, with the encouragement of Pope Boniface and the helpful machinations of Bishop Paulinus, she aims to convince Edwin to convert to Christianity and abandon his allegiance to Woden and other pagan gods, to whom he attributes his military fortunes. In addition, Ethelberga decides to teach the women of her kingdom to read, including Princess Hildeburg, Edwin’s young niece. Wagner-Wright, in the third installment of her series, chronicles the trials of Ethelberga and the women surrounding her as they attempt to carve out meaningful lives in a male-dominated world. The author’s command of the historical period is magisterial, and she paints a lively, even terrifying picture of an England riven by tribalistic conflicts, fleeting alliances, and bloodthirsty monarchs. Furthermore, she thoughtfully captures the religious conflicts of the time and the ways in which they feed into political and territorial ones; as Hildeburg aptly puts it, “When gods dispute, kings die.” Ethelberga, in particular, emerges as a memorable heroine; even after she faces a major tragedy and a siege of Northumbria, leaving her a “displaced queen,” she displays remarkable resilience and shrewd, calculating intelligence. Wagner-Wright has a tendency to freight the reader with an excess of detail—particularly when it comes to the labyrinthine political entanglements that are central to the novel—but this dramatically gripping novel is worth readers’ effort.
A captivating account of the lives of extraordinary women in perilous times.Pub Date: March 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73-541320-4
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Wagner Wright Enterprises
Review Posted Online: April 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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 welcome literary resurrection that deserves a place alongside Wright’s best-known work.
A falsely accused Black man goes into hiding in this masterful novella by Wright (1908-1960), finally published in full.
Written in 1941 and '42, between Wright’s classics Native Son and Black Boy, this short novel concerns Fred Daniels, a modest laborer who’s arrested by police officers and bullied into signing a false confession that he killed the residents of a house near where he was working. In a brief unsupervised moment, he escapes through a manhole and goes into hiding in a sewer. A series of allegorical, surrealistic set pieces ensues as Fred explores the nether reaches of a church, a real estate firm, and a jewelry store. Each stop is an opportunity for Wright to explore themes of hope, greed, and exploitation; the real estate firm, Wright notes, “collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent from poor colored folks.” But Fred’s deepening existential crisis and growing distance from society keep the scenes from feeling like potted commentaries. As he wallpapers his underground warren with cash, mocking and invalidating the currency, he registers a surrealistic but engrossing protest against divisive social norms. The novel, rejected by Wright’s publisher, has only appeared as a substantially truncated short story until now, without the opening setup and with a different ending. Wright's take on racial injustice seems to have unsettled his publisher: A note reveals that an editor found reading about Fred’s treatment by the police “unbearable.” That may explain why Wright, in an essay included here, says its focus on race is “rather muted,” emphasizing broader existential themes. Regardless, as an afterword by Wright’s grandson Malcolm attests, the story now serves as an allegory both of Wright (he moved to France, an “exile beyond the reach of Jim Crow and American bigotry”) and American life. Today, it resonates deeply as a story about race and the struggle to envision a different, better world.
A welcome literary resurrection that deserves a place alongside Wright’s best-known work.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-59853-676-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Library of America
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
BOOK TO SCREEN
© 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.
