An angst-filled love story about the value of growth and understanding.
A comedian and a musician just might be a perfect match, if only they can get the timing right.
Jess Henson meets Tom Delaney when he literally runs into her, knocking her to the ground outside an Indian restaurant in Edinburgh. She’s an up-and-coming comedian who dreams of having her big break, while he’s in a band that hopes to find success. Despite their movieworthy meet-cute, Tom runs off, squashing any hope for a romance. They meet again when they’re both featured at an artist showcase. They each have their own problems—Jess has a distrust of most people because her dad split when she was a kid, while Tom has severe anxiety that causes him to say the wrong things, self-medicate with alcohol, and even make up a fake girlfriend so his band mates won’t think he’s pathetic—but despite their communication problems, they feel a connection and spend a perfect evening together. That is, until they get jumped by some drunk football fans and Tom ends up in the hospital. Jess comes along, but then Tom’s best friend shows up and mentions Tom’s (fake) girlfriend. Tom is too doped up on painkillers to set the record straight, and Jess leaves, thus beginning a yearslong string of near misses and almost-kisses for Jess and Tom. Each time they reconnect, there’s something in the way—Jess’ bitterness, Tom’s anxiety, one of them seeing someone else. As their careers take off, they both have to figure out exactly what success means for them—and whether it involves each other. Nicholls writes with warmth and humor, giving Jess and Tom fully developed lives, friends, and families. It’s satisfying to watch them grow over the years, though the personal failings that keep them apart can be frustrating to read as their would-be relationship stalls again and again. Nicholls isn’t afraid to let Tom and Jess get mean and deal with personal tragedy (such as Tom’s musician grandfather’s death, Tom’s alcoholism and anxiety, and Jess’ relationship with her absent father), giving the story a realism that anchors the lighter aspects of their romance.
An angst-filled love story about the value of growth and understanding.Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-984826-89-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Dell
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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