A powerfully told story of the choices behind changes.
A story of an unlikely friendship between two women offers a snapshot into the realities of addiction, trauma, and homelessness.
When well-to-do socialite and philanthropist Claire Anderson attends the annual fundraising luncheon for Portland Promise, an agency focused on supporting the unhoused, she comes to the realization that simply donating money doesn’t solve a problem. The trouble is, she arrives at this conclusion during her speech as the agency honors her as one of its top donors of the year. Claire’s epiphany forces her to confront her own privilege and ignorance. Inspired by the selfless work of her recently deceased husband, Chris, Claire soon finds herself wanting to do more to help the unhoused. Portland Promise outreach worker Erica Ford, who’s seven years sober, watched from the crowd as Claire gave her speech, surprised and impressed. Feeling hamstrung by the complexity of the issue of homelessness, Erica often finds herself at odds with her boss, Bruce Bishop. Claire and Erica are drawn together by their mutual desire for change, and they hatch a plan to create innovative women’s transitional housing using Claire’s money and Erica’s skills. However, they soon realize that, in addition to coordinating the project and building it, they must contend with intolerant neighbors, a city council reluctant to trying a new approach, and the complexities of working with marginalized women. Over the course of this novel inspired by the lives of real people, Lentz highlights “how expensive it is be to be poor,” as a young, unhoused woman named Wendi notes: “I’ve met so many people who get ticketed for something a regular person wouldn’t even get noticed for….I knew one guy who didn’t have a phone to set an alarm to wake him up on time, and he missed his hearing and got a fine.” Overall, the novel offers insight into the stories of the unhoused and articulates both the complexity of systemic issues, as well as the importance of making sure that policy changes involving a specific group shouldn’t be made without their input.
A powerfully told story of the choices behind changes.Pub Date: June 6, 2025
ISBN: 9781960573896
Page Count: 328
Publisher: Sibylline Press
Review Posted Online: June 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
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
A delightfully nostalgic novel about how the things we loved in the past have the power to shape our future.
A boy band cruise is the site of one woman’s post-divorce healing.
Annie never meant to end up alone on a Boy Talk cruise, but that’s exactly what happens when her sister breaks a leg and has to bow out of their vacation. Now Annie is sharing a cabin with a stranger, stuck on the cruise ship American Fantasy with the 1990s band—and thousands of their biggest fans, known as Talkers. Annie doesn’t consider herself a Talker, even if she was a fan back in the day. But reeling from a recent divorce and dealing with complex feelings about turning 50, Annie throws herself into the distraction of the trip. What she doesn’t expect is to truly connect with the music, the band, the other fans, and herself. As Annie observes, “This was why people turned to religion or watched the Super Bowl at a sports bar instead of alone in their living room. It felt good to be a part of something where your passion was celebrated instead of mocked.” All the Talkers dream of having a special bond with “the guys,” but when Annie actually does meet Keith, a Boy Talk member who’s clearly going through a hard time, she wonders if their connection is real or if she’s just as delusional as the other (mostly) women on the ship. Straub depicts a wonderfully immersive world aboard the American Fantasy, one where each woman assigns herself a favorite guy and everyone is bedecked in Boy Talk merch. For five days, the Talkers live in a fantasy world where the only thing that matters is their connection with a band that meant everything to them so many years ago. As Annie puts it, “Inside her head, which is where she heard the music, it had touched some lever so deep that it couldn’t be reversed…the music was a direct vein to her own childhood, the least complicated part of her life.”
A delightfully nostalgic novel about how the things we loved in the past have the power to shape our future.Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9798217046850
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
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