Measured, witty, captivating tales starring a series of resilient, likable female characters.
A short-story collection plumbs the depths of girlhood, life, and suburban survival.
Hosey channels the lives of young women across the expanse of 10 tales that are alternatingly titillating, shocking, harrowing, poignant, and compelling. In the opener, “Christine,” two suburban adolescent girls befriend and then start parenting a toddler they meet at a playground, which begins as a fun project but becomes too serious when they escalate their efforts to care for the child on their own. The title story is striking and clever as it depicts two girls, both in love with the same abusive, cheating video store clerk, who agree to participate in the man’s robbery scheme but wind up bonding in other ways instead. Elsewhere, a nun’s fall from grace in “Blessed Virgin” comes as a blessing when she realizes she can finally be the queer woman she feels she is inside without consequences or judgment. Plenty of phallic humor permeates the comical and family-centric “Not For Everyone,” one of the volume’s longest tales. Hosey has a firm grasp of the minor details that give readers a fully illuminated image of the characters she depicts and the nostalgic era, mostly the 1980s and ’90s, in which they live. Preteen girls, “both summer-brown overlaid with pink sunburn on their shoulders and cheeks,” chew grape gum and gossip about the TV series Dynasty; others use pay phones, star-69 one another, and obsess over the musician Dave Matthews. A calm, comforting man becomes the equivalent of “human Xanax” for a needy woman in one story. The author’s knack for characterization is keenly realized throughout these tales with remarkably descriptive flair. The Walden Pond tour guide in “Land Mammals,” about a downtrodden college teacher who is enlivened by a Thoreau impersonator, is described as a “sickly-looking older woman who probably believes that old lie about how it is impossible to be too thin.” There’s also a refreshing range of locales, from the wintry setting of suburban Wisconsin to the leafy, wooded historical community of Concord, Massachusetts. Every story in Hosey’s distinguished, engrossing collection is memorable, suffused with meaning and emotion, with characters exhibiting the grace and wisdom of age or the testiness of youth. This is splendidly entertaining reading, particularly for fans of women’s fiction.
Measured, witty, captivating tales starring a series of resilient, likable female characters.Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2024
ISBN: 9783988320407
Page Count: 290
Publisher: Vine Leaves Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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