Lofty, witty, and unbiased, this chronicle of the Trump era educates with a wink and a chuckle.
Calder charts the ascendency of Donald Trump in this witty political satire.
The author, a historian, interrogates the life of Donald Trump and the rise of Trumpism in U.S. politics by elevating recent history to the level of scripture. Calder (signified by the title “the scribe”) begins with the story of Donald J. Trump’s rise to becoming one of the most recognizable figures in real estate, finance, and popular culture. The author acknowledges the role of the art of making the proverbial “deal” (which the subject has often boasted about mastering) in Trump’s success. As Calder clarifies, “the deal is not primarily about money,” but messaging. What matters is the story told by the major players in any negotiation, and, as Trump learned very early on, control of the story means eventual success. This theme underlies the rise of Trumpism in politics as well—the author documents Trump’s unexpected success as a presidential candidate by citing the many times when Trump gained the upper hand through persistence, the projection of gravitas, and keeping control of the story. At the end, the work pauses to let the scribe rest with this thought: “Chronicles do not conclude. They stop because the scribe must stop, and the events continue without the scribe.” From the outset, Calder is clear about the intention to satirize all sides of the story, which makes for exceptionally smart and notably unbiased depictions of the many instances in which the American public has underestimated Trump’s will, overestimated his scruples, or simply stood transfixed by his peculiar charisma. The prose evokes the sense of loftiness evident in many religious texts and deftly captures the qualities of an epic tale. Calder’s choice to present the facts of various scenarios without commentary allows readers to uncover the comedy, irony, and outright absurdity of each situation on their own, landing this chronicle a spot among the great literary satires.
Lofty, witty, and unbiased, this chronicle of the Trump era educates with a wink and a chuckle.Pub Date: June 14, 2026
ISBN: 9798995393702
Page Count: 230
Publisher: Granite Ridge Press LLC
Review Posted Online: May 21, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Fans of Stockett’s bestselling debut will love this engaging follow-up.
Stockett heads to Mississippi for another historical novel about feisty women.
This time, perhaps recalling criticisms of cultural appropriation in The Help (2009), she sticks to feisty white women, with one exception. The setting is Oxford in 1933. For two miserable years, 11-year-old Meg has lived in “the Orphan,” a county asylum for parentless girls. Chairlady Garnett—a villain so one-note she’d twirl a mustache if she had one—makes it her mission to ostracize the older girls she deems unadoptable, stigmatizing them as offspring of the “feebleminded” mothers who abandoned them. She particularly has it in for smart, sassy Meg, who refuses to believe her mother’s mysterious disappearance was deliberate. Elsewhere in Oxford, Birdie Calhoun comes to visit her sister Frances, who married a wealthy banker, to ask for money on behalf of their mother and grandmother back in Footely. Frances isn’t thrilled by this reminder of her impoverished small-town origins. But she’s trying to climb up in Oxford society by volunteering at the Orphan, the asylum’s books need to be done before the state inspector shows up in a few weeks, and Birdie is a bookkeeper. Having neatly arranged to keep Birdie in town and draw these two storylines together, Stockett goes on to spin a compulsively readable yarn with enough plot for a half-dozen novels. Birdie and Meg become friends, Meg is adopted despite Garnett’s best efforts, Meg’s mother turns up at the Orphan demanding to know where her child is—and that’s less than a quarter of the way through a long, winding narrative that keeps piling on more dramatic developments until all loose ends are neatly, if hastily, wrapped up in the final pages. Stockett might be making a point about Southern women facing facts and standing up for themselves, but mostly this is just a satisfyingly twisty tale that should make a great miniseries.
Fans of Stockett’s bestselling debut will love this engaging follow-up.Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9781954118812
Page Count: 656
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
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
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