An entertaining shell game of a novel.
An unsophisticated intern at a fashion magazine fears her new, wealthy mentor may be a con artist.
Rigetti’s entertaining first novel lays out how easily a grifter can take advantage of the system—and the naïve. And no one seems to be a better target for a con artist than unsophisticated would-be writer Lora Ricci from Allentown, Pennsylvania. Lora has just started an internship at glamorous Elle magazine in Manhattan, but she feels overwhelmed. She has failed her courses at NYU and is hiding her lost scholarship from her parents, and she knows she’s at a disadvantage compared to the other trust fund–fueled interns around her. Then she meets charismatic contributing editor Cat Wolff, heiress to an Austrian billionaire’s fortune, who offers her an opportunity that seems too good to be true. She invites Lora to move into her huge suite at the Plaza Hotel so that Lora can ghostwrite short stories for her, a plan that will surely catapult them to a lucrative literary contract. A savvier writer might balk at such a ridiculous suggestion—trying to climb the literary ladder is hardly the best way to access instant wealth—but the plan sounds plausible to the increasingly desperate Lora, who doesn’t know what to do when her internship ends. Meanwhile, readers know something that Lora does not: Rigetti reveals from the start of this clever, fast-paced book that Cat is not all that she seems. The novel’s opening pages consist of an FBI transcript, and Rigetti tells the story using a variety of ephemera—journal entries, Instagram posts, texts—to heighten the mystery as Lora begins to question Cat’s motives and actions. This isn’t a book to take too seriously, but the crafty Rigetti makes fraud a lot of fun.
An entertaining shell game of a novel.Pub Date: April 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-307205-3
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2022
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
Uneven but fitfully amusing.
Betrayed by her husband, a severely depressed young woman gets drawn into the over-the-top festivities at a lavish wedding.
Phoebe Stone, who teaches English literature at a St. Louis college, is plotting her own demise. Her husband, Matt, has left her for another woman, and Phoebe is taking it hard. Indeed, she's determined just where and how she will end it all: at an oceanfront hotel in Newport, where she will lie on a king-sized canopy bed and take a bottle of her cat’s painkillers. At the hotel, Phoebe meets bride-to-be Lila, a headstrong rich girl presiding over her own extravagant six-day wedding celebration. Lila thought she had booked every room in the hotel, and learning of Phoebe's suicidal intentions, she forbids this stray guest from disrupting the nuptials: “No. You definitely can’t kill yourself. This is my wedding week.” After the punchy opening, a grim flashback to the meltdown of Phoebe's marriage temporarily darkens the mood, but things pick up when spoiled Lila interrupts Phoebe's preparations and sweeps her up in the wedding juggernaut. The slide from earnest drama to broad farce is somewhat jarring, but from this point on, Espach crafts an enjoyable—if overstuffed—comedy of manners. When the original maid of honor drops out, Phoebe is persuaded, against her better judgment, to take her place. There’s some fun to be had here: The wedding party—including groom-to-be Gary, a widower, and his 11-year-old daughter—takes surfing lessons; the women in the group have a session with a Sex Woman. But it all goes on too long, and the humor can seem forced, reaching a low point when someone has sex with the vintage wedding car (you don’t want to know the details). Later, when two characters have a meet-cute in a hot tub, readers will guess exactly how the marriage plot resolves.
Uneven but fitfully amusing.Pub Date: July 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781250899576
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2024
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