The novel’s fantastical quality doesn’t quite make up for a stagnant plot, but Stridsberg’s prose sings.
In Stockholm, a daughter contends with her institutionalized father’s mental illness.
“I’m fine. Life is a work of grief,” Jackie’s father tells her near the end of Stridsberg’s latest novel. It’s a statement that perfectly encapsulates Jim, who has spent a formative portion of Jackie’s girlhood institutionalized in the well-known Stockholm mental hospital for which the book is named. At first, Jackie visits Jim with her mother, Lone; then, when Lone refuses to return—her relationship with Jim has fallen apart—Jackie visits Beckomberga on her own. She comes to see Jim, but she ends up closely observing the doctors, nurses, and other patients—Olof, a man who has spent almost his whole life at the hospital; Sabina, a glamorous woman reminiscent of Zelda Fitzgerald. Jim’s illness is the defining factor in Jackie’s life. “It is always there,” Jackie realizes, “this threat of being transferred or locked up or sedated. I am the only one free to leave, and all I want is to stay.” Stridsberg takes a casual approach to the novel’s timeline, freely mixing portions from Jackie’s childhood with various scenes from her adulthood, when she’s had a son of her own, or she and Lone have returned to visit Beckomberga. Sometimes dreams are intermingled with the rest, or scenes that Jackie, the steely-tongued narrator, couldn’t have been present for. The result is a narrative that itself frequently feels dreamlike, with recurring descriptions of trees and birds. And while Stridsberg’s prose is lovely—at one point, she writes, Jim “could smell [Sabina’s] scent wafting past like a wound in the air”—the storytelling, or the pacing, quite often lag. There isn’t much sense of momentum. That might be part of Stridsberg’s point, but it doesn’t make for satisfying reading.
The novel’s fantastical quality doesn’t quite make up for a stagnant plot, but Stridsberg’s prose sings.Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2026
ISBN: 9780374619916
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 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
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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