A slow-moving but engaging tale about thorny family ties.
In this novel, a snowmobile accident leaves a woman and her young daughter fighting for their lives as her husband seemingly abandons them.
Long Islander Francesca Bellini is in her first year as a music teacher when she meets Ben Bodin. This “dignified” young architect catches her attention immediately. It isn’t long before the two get married and start a new life in Vermont. Though Francesca is reluctant to move away from her parents, the couple’s newly built home in the forest sits next to a beautiful meadow that Mother Nature herself made. Francesca loves her husband, but after she has a baby, she grows especially close to their daughter, Addie. She is miserable when she and her child are apart. One December evening, when Addie is 4 years old, Ben takes the family on a snowmobile trip across the wintry landscape. Although he’s a skilled rider, he can’t avoid an accident that throws all three into an icy lake. Francesca sinks into the blistering cold water, struggling to stay on the surface. As she screams for Addie, whom she can’t see, she’s astounded when she sees Ben find his way to solid ground only to run away and leave his family behind. In the dreamlike sequence that follows, Francesca somehow makes it to the nearby woods. She stumbles on an enigmatic individual called the White Widow, joined by her “sisters in spirit.” These women have all been betrayed—sometimes killed—by their husbands. As they all crave vengeance, Francesca may have to deliver their lethal brand of retribution against Ben.
Speranza meticulously develops the relationship between Francesca and Ben. She doesn’t skimp on scenes like the construction of the couple’s home; their adoption of a beloved golden retriever, Cruz; and Francesca’s road to motherhood. Softhearted Francesca, who’s an accomplished flutist, will easily win readers’ admiration; she’s the patient and firm one in arguments. But the narrative perspective shifts to Ben as well and largely centers on his dead twin sister, Lucy. He’s not quite as sympathetic as his wife, but the story does shine a light on the tragedy of teenage Lucy’s death, a topic Ben routinely dodges. Despite a potent connection between mother and child, the novel’s strongest bond involves Cruz and Addie. The dog, for example, “nudges” Addie when she’s trying to crawl and stays at her side as she learns to swim. The author’s tendency to describe things in painstaking detail makes for an unhurried narrative. Certain passages nevertheless read like poetry. There’s lyricism even in infant Addie’s wails: “Slowly, her mouth widens as she bellows her anguish, and moves her whole body in tandem with the sounds she emits, arms thrashing like a crazed conductor leading a rebellious orchestra, legs in synchrony, kicking the air above her.” Speranza wisely shrouds the relatively short White Widow sequence in ambiguity; readers may question if the meeting is genuinely happening or something else entirely is going on. The ending deftly focuses on redemption and forgiveness. Even if Ben doesn’t have a shot at redeeming himself, Francesca may choose to offer absolution rather than seek retaliation.
A slow-moving but engaging tale about thorny family ties.Pub Date: May 24, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64742-324-7
Page Count: 231
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 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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