A smart look at people-pleasing taken to its illogical extreme.
An unhappy young man tries to redeem himself, and make a living along the way, by fulfilling the fantasies of strangers.
The unnamed narrator of Tang’s provocative, self-assured debut has been working for a decade as a “Rental Stranger,” performing as boyfriend, wingman, brother-in-law from out of town, despondent mourner at a funeral, or whatever other role his clients need in order to impress their friends and relatives, as long as it doesn’t involve any emotional attachment or carnal activity. Haunted by the death of his depressed actress mother when he was a teenager, he does his best to lose himself in his work. His longest-standing role is as father to Lily, who is now 9. Because her mother, Mari, wanted a stable male figure in Lily’s life, the Stranger has been picking her up from day care and then school once a week since she was 2, in the guise of a long-distance trucker father. More recently, he has begun playing the role of an alcoholic brother to creative writing student Darlene, who wants to make her writing more realistic. As Lily grows more suspicious of what her “father” is doing when he’s not around, Mari’s life takes a new direction, and the relationship between the narrator and Darlene tests the narrator’s boundaries, he begins to wonder if it’s time for a change of career. Peeks into how the narrator handles his many assignments, which include a public proposal to a woman trying to make her lover jealous, add humor to what could otherwise be a melancholy tale. Tang plays deftly with the conventions of romantic comedy, tempting the reader to long for the promise of happy endings and then throwing cold water on those hopes and embedding sharp ethical dilemmas in a cocoon of diverting dialogue.
A smart look at people-pleasing taken to its illogical extreme.Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781668050149
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
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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