Gritty, gripping, and fearlessly committed. A notable beginning.
A Wild West–type tale of rustling and villainy, blood and belonging, transposed to the bleakly beautiful fells and sheep flocks of northern England.
Preston’s debut arrives like a punch to the gut, darkly phrased and launching quickly into the ghastly consequences of foot-and-mouth disease spreading through the farms of Cumbria. Sheep are slaughtered and burned by the thousands, and small farmers ruined, including the elderly father of loner Steve Elliman—“I like dogs more than people”—the tough but upright narrator of the story. One farmer, William Herne, tries to buck the rules, and Steve lends a hand, until Herne is forced to submit. Steve then returns to his other job—“Only two things I knew was driving and sheep”—until his father’s death brings him back to the fells, and to Herne and his compelling wife, Helen, whom Steve has known since childhood. Herne pulls Steve into another risky enterprise, this time driving one of the trucks in a big sheep robbery spearheaded by slippery Colin Tinley. The job goes well enough, but Tinley sticks around afterward, bringing mayhem and lawlessness with him. Steve’s been well paid but doesn’t want to get involved with the next job, which goes wrong anyway. This phase of the story is a blur of fighting, police involvement, guns, and savage dogs, all leading to a showdown high in the hills. But even with an end to the crimes, the destiny-defining drama among Steve, William, and Helen is not done. Preston delivers his narrative in clipped yet rhythmic prose: “I eyed up the three lads, stood nervy they were, and all a step too close,” although the vernacular might require a glossary for those unfamiliar with “nowt,” “bowk,” and much more. This is an elemental tale shaded in tones of heroism, machismo, moral intensity, and mythmaking. It’s also a love song to the landscape: “These rocks make me want to bloody cry.”
Gritty, gripping, and fearlessly committed. A notable beginning.Pub Date: June 4, 2024
ISBN: 9781668050675
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
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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