A busy but wonderful example of generous escapism and a book to be recommended.
Sibley’s novel welcomes readers to small-town Texas with a tale featuring a strange but entertaining passel of characters.
Marty Pennebaker has left her life in Manhattan and come back to her family’s sprawling ranch, Los Abuelos, south of San Antonio. Her father, Pete, hopes that she’ll get married and take over the place; her only other sibling, Tom, died of complications from AIDS more than a year ago. Thanks to the ranch, with its oil and gas and good grazing, the Pennebakers are inexhaustibly wealthy, and they amount to laid-back nobility in tiny Rita Blanca, Texas. Marty has a purely sexual relationship with local Pettus Lyndecker, a member of a poor family that’s just scraping by, but for Pettus, lust is turning into love, which complicates matters. Soon, Chito Sosa, Tom’s Mexican widower, arrives in town with money to fulfill Tom’s hope of making a difference in the decaying town. Other characters include twins Darcy and Delilah Lyndecker, Pettus’ sisters, and their failing flower shop; their archenemy is upstart florist Carol Ann Jansky. Another subplot involves Syrian refugee Adnan Hakim and his young daughter, Haya, who are discovered hiding on the ranch; they try to avoid deportation with other characters’ help. Sibley is an experienced novelist and playwright and a native Texan. Plot is his strong point, although readers will often find it easy to guess the next twist. However, he clearly loves his kooky characters and looks after them as only an affectionate puppeteer can: Is someone having a crisis in their life? Perhaps a marriage will help—or perhaps a sudden monetary windfall. Is a change of heart needed? If so, Sibley will look into that, too—even if that is a bit more of a challenge. Some may object to such relentless conjuring of happiness, but other readers will relish it.
A busy but wonderful example of generous escapism and a book to be recommended.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
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
SEEN & HEARD
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.
A French art historian’s English-language fiction debut combines the story of a loving relationship between a grandfather and granddaughter with an enlightening discussion of art.
One day, when 10-year-old Mona removes the necklace given to her by her now-dead grandmother, she experiences a frightening, hour-long bout of blindness. Her parents take her to the doctor, who gives her a variety of tests and also advises that she see a psychiatrist. Her grandfather Henry tells her parents that he will take care of that assignment, but instead, he takes Mona on weekly visits to either the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Centre Pompidou, where each week they study a single work of art, gazing at it deeply and then discussing its impact and history and the biography of its maker. For the reader’s benefit, Schlesser also describes each of the works in scrupulous detail. As the year goes on, Mona faces the usual challenges of elementary school life and the experiences of being an only child, and slowly begins to understand the causes of her temporary blindness. Primarily an amble through a few dozen of Schlesser’s favorite works of art—some well known and others less so, from Botticelli and da Vinci through Basquiat and Bourgeois—the novel would probably benefit from being read at a leisurely pace. While the dialogue between Henry and the preternaturally patient and precocious Mona sometimes strains credulity, readers who don’t have easy access to the museums of Paris may enjoy this vicarious trip in the company of a guide who focuses equally on that which can be seen and the context that can’t be. Come for the novel, stay for the introductory art history course.
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798889661115
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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