About as dear as a novel can be. See you in Rehoboth.
A lonely man can’t imagine life after selling his family’s historic beach restaurant to a corporate chain…and he doesn’t know the half of it.
Peppering his third novel with snatches from a (fictional) guidebook to the town of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, Joella again unfolds a story that illuminates the connections among people who have been in each other’s lives for a long time, even as newcomers wander in to upset the apple cart—or, in this case, the crab cart. Jack Schmidt finds that perhaps he’s just burned out enough to accept an offer from local behemoth the DelDine group, especially as it’s delivered by a high-energy, charismatic, and somewhat weird woman named Nicole Pratt, a ballsy, low-boundaries-type character Joella has great fun with. Though Jack feels obligated to his devoted staff members, it seems one of them is stealing from him and another has a druggie son who has gone dangerously off the rails. Meanwhile, Jack’s old girlfriend Kitty is in town to take care of her ailing mother and has a secret to share that will first break Jack’s heart and then change his life. There’s so much to love about this gentle domestic drama—the fraught bustle of restaurant life; the rhythms of a seaside resort town; the quiet importance of male (and feline) friendship; the often challenging relationships between middle-aged adults and their dying/difficult senior parents, particularly when they have dementia. For example, when Jack picks up his BFF Deacon from a visit to his mom in the care facility, he finds him unusually depressed. “I’m your son,” Deacon tried to assure her when she said she was afraid of him. Her reply: “I hope not.” Shardlike moments like this are what keep this book, so full of sentiment, from being sentimental. Both Joella and his protagonist show that nice guys sometimes finish first.
About as dear as a novel can be. See you in Rehoboth.Pub Date: July 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781668024607
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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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