A moving pair of historical tales, as philosophically astute as they are dramatically gripping.
Two novellas poignantly examine characters who find comfort in their roots and find themselves drawn to the unknown.
Hess offers a pair of searching explorations of the push and pull of one’s origins. In The Root of Everything, set in the early 20th century, Richard leaves his native Germany over the objections of his father in order to follow his younger brother, Rolf, to the United States. They both find work at a lumberyard in Missouri, but when Rolf dies tragically on the job, Richard is devastated. Nevertheless, he starts his own business and a family, as well; his son, Cal, follows in his footsteps and runs a lumbering business and marries a woman named Josie. However, Cal is never quite happy with his life, and Josie is so miserable that she finally leaves him; their son, Stanford, who’s secretly gay, leaves for New York City to become a wealthy businessman; there, he has a relationship with a palm reader named Sam. In deeply affecting prose that’s characteristic of the entire book, Hess depicts Richard’s despair over his now scattered family: “Richard…covered his face, and with this sharp action, the dragon flies scattered as if this human grief had poisoned their air.” In the second novella, Lightning, Bud is born and raised in Fayetteville, Arkansas, but dreams of moving out west with his best friend, Jerky. After his father dies, a rich aunt offers him the opportunity to move to New York and ride horses, a passion of his, and it’s a possibility that is as tantalizing as it is frightening. Once again, the author’s writing is poetically subtle but impressively restrained; readers are drawn deep into these stories without any excessive hand-holding, free to draw their own conclusions. With impressive emotional power, both novellas show the paradoxical ways in which one’s family can feel like a prison from which to break free but also like a home in which one can find one’s true self.
A moving pair of historical tales, as philosophically astute as they are dramatically gripping.Pub Date: July 13, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-60-864158-1
Page Count: 204
Publisher: rEBEL SaTOri PrESS
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
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
SEEN & HEARD
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.
A French art historian’s English-language fiction debut combines the story of a loving relationship between a grandfather and granddaughter with an enlightening discussion of art.
One day, when 10-year-old Mona removes the necklace given to her by her now-dead grandmother, she experiences a frightening, hour-long bout of blindness. Her parents take her to the doctor, who gives her a variety of tests and also advises that she see a psychiatrist. Her grandfather Henry tells her parents that he will take care of that assignment, but instead, he takes Mona on weekly visits to either the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Centre Pompidou, where each week they study a single work of art, gazing at it deeply and then discussing its impact and history and the biography of its maker. For the reader’s benefit, Schlesser also describes each of the works in scrupulous detail. As the year goes on, Mona faces the usual challenges of elementary school life and the experiences of being an only child, and slowly begins to understand the causes of her temporary blindness. Primarily an amble through a few dozen of Schlesser’s favorite works of art—some well known and others less so, from Botticelli and da Vinci through Basquiat and Bourgeois—the novel would probably benefit from being read at a leisurely pace. While the dialogue between Henry and the preternaturally patient and precocious Mona sometimes strains credulity, readers who don’t have easy access to the museums of Paris may enjoy this vicarious trip in the company of a guide who focuses equally on that which can be seen and the context that can’t be. Come for the novel, stay for the introductory art history course.
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798889661115
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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