A wildly ambitious novel about Iran’s past, present, and future filled with longing and fury.
Azar explores the roots of the Iranian revolution and its aftermath through the spiritual journey of one young woman.
Given that Azar left Iran after several arrests and now lives in Australia, and that her translator is anonymous “for security reasons,” it’s no surprise that her romantic and spiritual fabulism is steeped in resistance to the country’s oppressive government. The influence of both García Márquez and Pasternak whispers throughout. Narrator Shokoofeh begins her decades-long story in 1976, when she's 15, living in the family mansion and obsessed with the concept of love. Her father is a professor at the University of Tehran and the family is Zoroastrian, members of a religious minority in Iran. Many of the supernatural events in the story relate to Zoroastrian mythology: The boundary between the living and dead, who appear in multitudes, is permeable; Shokoof is loaned a magical Ball of Light; the Lord of Worlds has a love affair with Eblis, a mysterious woman of mythic power who appears in different guises in other scenes. More straightforward is Azar’s retelling of the 1979 Revolution, which was closely followed by the Iran-Iraq War. The author makes a strong case against the misgovernance, brutal oppression, and general chaos of the regime, focusing on fictional characters but also naming real names. The spine of the novel is Shokoof’s spiritual and physical journey as she searches for her missing brother on the front lines of battle and navigates a romantic love triangle with two cousins. One is her “restless lover” Behnam, an idealistic, communist-leaning intellectual to whom she’s committed her life, the other Bahnam, a ruthless Revolutionary Guard whose unrequited love for Shokoof never dissipates. Although readers may sometimes get lost, especially when the author’s imagination spirals in multiple directions at once, they can expect impassioned, gorgeous writing.
A wildly ambitious novel about Iran’s past, present, and future filled with longing and fury.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9798889660972
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 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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