An ambitious, disjointed take on exploring world history and one’s own background.
An adopted man takes a journey of self-discovery in Vlach’s novel.
From a young age, Michael has known that he was adopted. His biological father was Greek, though the family who raises him is not. Michael attends elementary school in the 1950s in the small town of West Pittsburg, California. Life is normal enough until his adoptive father, Jack, dies when Michael is a teenager. Michael, his brother Verne, and their adoptive mother, Virginia, move to a smaller home in Sacramento. As Virginia develops mental health issues, he moves to San Francisco, marries, and starts a family of his own. He then becomes quite curious about his biological lineage; who was this Greek father? As Michael puts it, when passing a Greek restaurant or festival, “anxiety would flow through me like CIA electricity flowed through my mom’s brain.” Interspersed between chapters about Michael’s life and his search for his heritage are flashbacks to various times in history, such as Arcadia in 1605 CE and Sparta in 241 BCE. These sections involve short, often playful scenes, such as one set in ancient Athens in which Sophists criticize Socrates’ philosophy as he walks among his “groupies.” Initially, the shifts back and forth between time periods are jarring; while the past events can be fantastical, Michael’s actions, like taking a DNA test, are not always action-packed. There really is no telling what will come next; often, what does come next is appealingly odd—take, for instance, an appearance by the Roman emperor Nero, who complains about how his wife nagged him for coming home late after singing his “glorious poetry at the Coliseum Slam.” (Nero is also not at all displeased with being called, to his face, “the Great Whore of Babylon.”) Funny, kooky anachronisms and characters run freely in this story that never ceases to offer surprises.
An ambitious, disjointed take on exploring world history and one’s own background.Pub Date: Dec. 2, 2024
ISBN: 9798218599164
Page Count: 659
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: April 16, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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 dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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