Fresh, funny, intelligent, and deeply satisfying.
Myers’ lively comic novel focuses on the raw passions of four women, not for men or each other—well, maybe those too—but mostly for the physical experience of archaeology, the grueling grunt work of a hot summer dig.
The dig in question takes place in Greece under the auspices of autocratic Dr. Charles Barton, from an unnamed university. Zara, Kara, Elise, and Patty arrive with different skills and expectations. Patty, a clueless undergraduate intern who knows nothing about archaeology, has become Barton’s spy and general whipping girl. Zara had a wonderful experience in Greece as an undergrad on the dig six years ago until she broke up with her grad student boyfriend, Gary, now a committed archaeologist. She’s drifted through various botched jobs and boyfriends ever since. Aware that Gary will be there, she joins this year’s dig on a desperate whim. But Gary is engaged to ambitious, high-strung perfectionist Kara, who was also on Zara’s first dig and now runs the site lab; she’s worried that her goal of a job at Sotheby’s could be derailed if she doesn’t find two missing discuses for which she’s responsible. Eccentric, independent 44-year-old Elise lacks academic credentials but is highly respected as an adept professional excavator. She and Kara blame each other for a loss suffered several years earlier, a small but valuable statue Elise found and Kara restored before it was supposedly destroyed by an earthquake. Is there a connection between the discuses and the statue? Maybe. Myers gives the angst-ridden, imperfect women entertainingly distinct voices and personalities. The men are fun too, both the appealing ones and the creeps. (And then there’s the voice of the buried.) Desires collide and relationships realign rapidly as the dig begins to go awry. Myers is adept at academic satire with a feminist bent and at unsentimental romance, but she really shines at bringing to life a working excavation: the smells, the grime, the exhaustion. And the exhilaration.
Fresh, funny, intelligent, and deeply satisfying.Pub Date: July 4, 2023
ISBN: 9780063304512
Page Count: 288
Publisher: HarperVia
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
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
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.
With only a month left until the world ends due to a swiftly approaching black hole, Don and Rodney, a retired gay couple, road-trip from Maine to Washington to spend their final days with their son.
After reports that a planet-swallowing black hole is making its way toward Earth, Rodney and Don—who have been together for 40 years and survived everything from homophobia to the HIV crisis—decide to pack their belongings into an RV, say goodbye to their neighbors, and travel from Camden, Maine, to Washington to uphold a promise to spend their final days with their son. They can’t wait any longer, since there’s already chaos around the country: “Military vehicles in the streets of most cities and towns. Looting, rioting, the burning of cars and buildings and people, all of it had already happened.” As they make their way west across the country, they encounter fellow travelers ranging from close-knit families to free-spirited hippies, some of whom have come to terms with the impending end of the world and others who haven’t. While the story seems to be asking readers what they would do if they had 30 days left to live, and reflects on what different kinds of acceptance might look like in the face of unavoidable tragedy, it loses some of its poignancy in a series of thinly padded monologues about the meaning of life. Clearly intended to pack an emotional punch, it’s failed by an abrupt ending, and the way the journey’s mystery—which will be obvious to many readers—is revealed by an info dump in the last chapter.
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781250881236
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
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