A lean and very moving page-turner about a woman’s bond with a dog she saved.
A young woman rescues an abused dog and tries to build a new life in McClure’s debut novella.
Nina Locklear, a 22-year-old Native American from the Navajo Reservation near Tucumcari, New Mexico, feels utterly hopeless. She lives in an illicit compound as “something more like living furniture than a live-in girlfriend” to its boss, the violent drug dealer James Savin, who runs a horrifyingly brutal dog-fighting operation. Nina is forced to watch these savage death matches, and she feels an instant connection with a golden-brown shepherd mix that seems destined for death in the cage matches. She realizes that, like the beautiful and seemingly doomed dog, she is trapped. When she can endure Savin’s savagery no more, she collects the golden dog and makes a daring escape by stealing Savin’s money and one of his cars. She’s unaware that her escape has been carefully watched via drone by agents Lianna Cortez and Andrew Davis, who’ve been building a case against Savin for a long time. Suddenly Nina and her canine companion find themselves being pursued by both law enforcement agents and a vengeful Savin. They make their way from New Mexico to California, where by chance they encounter a friendly surfer named Charlie, described by McClure in glowing terms: “He stepped out onto the sand with his bronze skin glistening, surfboard under his arm, shaking his wet hair out, striding directly over to her.” From these sparse elements, McClure crafts a fast-paced story, aided a great deal by the wise decision to curtail its length; as a novel, all of this might feel overcooked, but as a novella, it works perfectly. And the standout narrative strengths of the story—Nina's raw courage and her steadily deepening attachment to her rescued dog—make for the book's most memorable elements.
A lean and very moving page-turner about a woman’s bond with a dog she saved.Pub Date: Dec. 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-63792-228-6
Page Count: 134
Publisher: Beyond Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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