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
Great crime fiction.
An apparent suicide threatens to destroy an Irish farm town in the final volume of French’s Cal Hooper trilogy.
In the fictional western Ireland townland of Ardnakelty, “there’s a girl going after missing.” Soon young Rachel Holohan is found dead in the river. Shortly before, she had stopped at Lena Dunne’s home, and nothing had seemed amiss. The medical examiner determines she’d swallowed antifreeze, and he presumes she then fell from a bridge into the water. The medical examiner and the town agree she’d died by suicide. But there is far more to the plot: 16-year-old Trey Reddy thinks Tommy Moynihan murdered Rachel. Moynihan doles out favors and punishments to the local townsfolk, who know it’s best not to cross him. Now rumors spread that Moynihan wants land and has a secret plan to forcibly buy up parcels from the locals. A factory will be built, or a great big data center, or who knows what. If Tommy’s son, Eugene, can get elected to the local council, then compulsory purchase orders for land will follow, and the farms will disappear. Eugene, who’d been romantically involved with Rachel, is wonderfully described as “on the weedy edge of good-looking” and just fine as long as you “don’t have high expectations in the way of chins.” Lena is engaged to the American Cal Hooper, an ex-cop turned woodworker. They are “more or less raising” Trey, and these three core characters are drawn into the mystery of Rachel’s death and may have to face the looming clouds of civilizational change for Ardnakelty. Lena is chastised for “asking your wee questions all round the townland,” and Trey wants to quit school, against Cal’s advice. Finally, the story’s best line: “You can’t go killing people just because they deserve it.”
Great crime fiction.Pub Date: March 31, 2026
ISBN: 9780593493465
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
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