A touching, evocative depiction of the therapeutic imperative to share and support.
A depressed mother of three flees her family and draws insight and strength from other women in Holly’s debut novel.
On a rainy day in Texas, Jenna Cartwright meets Maggie, whom she describes as “the closest thing I have to a real friend outside of those I left behind in Alabama so many years ago,” for coffee. However, Jenna confesses, she can’t imagine that Maggie “ever struggles with her kids, or her life,” as Jenna does. Only her visits to Bonnie, an elderly local acquaintance who reminds Jenna of her grandmother GiGi, offer some respite. As weeks go by, Jenna grows brusque with her children and increasingly stays in bed much of the time. One day, sitting in the refuge of her parked car in her driveway, Jenna spots her husband, Andrew, returning home from work. She starts the car and drives past him, briefly stopping at Bonnie’s house “to say goodbye.” Back on the road, Jenna fights an impulse to smash into a pole before driving on to Alabama and the home of her best friend, Michelle. Over the following days, Jenna talks to her mother, Michelle, GiGi, and members of GiGi’s walking group about the struggles the women have faced. Jenna returns home with renewed spirit and an enriching new focus in her life. The author effectively captures the complexity of Jenna’s depression through her first-person narration. Jenna seems self-involved and even unlikable at times yet also strikingly articulate about her mental state: “I am numb to the sight before me. Numb to the sounds. Numb to the feelings of anger, frustration, and guilt that I know are there, somewhere beneath the surface.” While the men and children in the narrative remain somewhat shadowy, the range of women’s stories presented here dramatically showcases how despair and loneliness can be relieved through connection with others.
A touching, evocative depiction of the therapeutic imperative to share and support.Pub Date: June 27, 2023
ISBN: 9798987966204
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Three Sparrows Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 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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