People who say that “Andwhen is a place where nothing ever happens” will certainly have to rethink their position.
In small-town Minnesota, three teenagers face challenges to body and spirit.
As Maltman’s fourth novel opens, the Lutheran residents of Andwhen, Minnesota, are discovering that the ashen crosses Pastor Breen marked on their foreheads at the start of Lent don’t wash off. Some believe this signifies a time of miracles, while 10th grader Basil Thorson takes it as inspiration to begin a fast in hopes that God will heal the physical and emotional wounds of his family. (His father was disabled in the process of saving Basil when he fell into the grain auger; his mother has been in a mental institution for years after having driven a car containing Basil and his little brother into the river.) Both Christian mysticism and Norse myth play a significant role in the unfolding plot; a purported 14th-century saga in verse is parceled out in eight “poetta fragments” between the prose chapters, one of which is narrated by a cow. If this sounds like a lot…it is. And that’s before the remains of a female Viking explorer turn up in a meadow. Six-foot-four, 200-plus pound, special-ed student Basil suffers from severe dyslexia and is taunted as “The Brute,” but fortunately finds respite in the friendship of Lukas Halvorsen and Morgan Breen, son of the sheriff and daughter of the pastor, respectively. “We are the weirdest people in this school,” says Lukas. “A gay, a goth, and a giant,” adds Morgan, who introduces Basil to audiobooks and recorded poetry, inspiring him to memorize and frequently quote from Gerard Manley Hopkins. Meanwhile, it’s March 2020, so another big problem will soon be added to the burden of grief, homophobia, divorcing parents, a high-pressure wrestling coach and more faced by the trio. Where does hope lie? As the cow puts it: “In each dark eye, a galaxy. In our dreaming, a flight to the moon. In our lowing, a memory of a world yet wild with summer. Our kingdom come. Come.” Some readers gladly will, thrilling to the heights and depths of all these impassioned goings-on; let the cynics roll their eyes in the peanut gallery.
People who say that “Andwhen is a place where nothing ever happens” will certainly have to rethink their position.Pub Date: July 15, 2025
ISBN: 9781641296700
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Soho
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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
A debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.
A high school senior pursues an affair with her teacher.
Seventeen-year-old Waldo, the narrator of McCurdy’s fiction debut, lives in Anchorage, Alaska, with her mother, though she’s long been the parent in their relationship. She heats her own frozen meals and pays the bills on time while her mom chases man after man and makes well-meaning promises she never keeps. Waldo blows her Victoria’s Secret wages on online shopping sprees and binges on junk food, inevitably crashing after the fleeting highs of her indulgences. Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher, has “thinning hair and nose pores”; he’s 40 years old and married with a child. Nevertheless—or possibly as a result?—Waldo’s attraction to him is “instant. So sudden it’s alarming. So palpable it’s confusing.” Mr. Korgy professes to want to keep their friendship aboveboard, but after a sexual encounter at the school’s winter formal that she initiates, an affair begins. Will this reckless pursuit be the one that actually satisfies Waldo, and is she as mature as she thinks she is? Waldo is a keen observer of people and provides sharp commentary on the punishing work of female beauty. Readers of McCurdy’s bestselling memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died (2022), will surely be curious about the tumultuous mother-daughter relationship, and it is one of the novel’s highlights, full of realistic pity and anger and need. (“I want to scream at her. I want her to hug me.”) Unfortunately, the prose is often unwieldy and sometimes downright cringeworthy: When Waldo tells Mr. Korgy she loves him, “The words hang in the air in that constipated way they do when you know that you shouldn’t have said them.” Waldo frequently lists emotions and adjectives in triplicate, and events that could be significant aren’t sufficiently explored or given enough space to breathe before the novel races on to the next thing.
A debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780593723739
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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