A fascinating and audacious novel about family, marriage, and a society in flux.
In Pye’s novel, sisters take on a fast-changing world and confront their faltering marriages.
As Melissa Stone sits outside the Richmond City Jail after an overnight stay, she longs for something more in life. While waiting for her husband, Marshall, to pick her up (her participation in a raucous protest resulted in her arrest), Melissa reflects on her fiery passion for social justice—and the lack of passion in her marriage. Meanwhile, in the newly renovated kitchen of a pristine home, Melissa’s sister, Cynthia Powers, discovers that her husband, Bobby, has lost all of their money and that their extravagant lifestyle is coming to an end. The sisters’ deteriorating marriages are set against the backdrop of Richmond, Virginia, in the summer of 2020: George Floyd was murdered just a month before, and protests flood the streets across the country as Confederate monuments come under fire. When Marshall—a Black man fed up with his white wife’s performative activism and the “knotted mess of privileged people taking on eliminating racism”—kicks Melissa out of their home, and Cynthia moves away from Bobby, the estranged sisters find themselves next-door neighbors with no one to turn to but each other. At the same time, their husbands find themselves pitted against one another in a fight for Richmond’s future. Pye’s tale is rich in Richmond’s history from the 1850s to 2020; each twist and turn in the sisters’ stories is marked by the downfall of yet another historical monument, including statues of Stonewall Jackson, Jefferson Davis, and Robert E. Lee. The author impressively limns nearly a dozen perspectives on the chaos and the social justice reckoning of 2020; every character displays distinct and complex angles, including a feisty white woman propelled by adrenaline and anti-racism, a Black man who would much rather study history than make it, and a middle-aged white man torn between justice and the influence of his own powerful and conservative father. Though the story could benefit from more interaction between Cynthia and Melissa, Pye’s novel offers a provocative take on Richmond’s past, present, and future.
A fascinating and audacious novel about family, marriage, and a society in flux.Pub Date: Feb. 10, 2026
ISBN: 9798888248911
Page Count: 318
Publisher: Koehler Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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