A pleasing historical coming-of-age tale set in a Europe in flux.
In deBruney’s novel, a young woman seeks independence in the rapidly changing world of early-20th-century Austria.
In 1914, Ilse Eder is 17 years old and the youngest daughter of intellectual Dr. Ansel Eder. She quietly sits in the corner of her father’s meetings with some of the greatest thinkers in Vienna, exercising her own curiosity and forming her own opinions. Her father decides against formally debuting her into society, as he’s nervous about the city’s political atmosphere; instead, he sends her to live with her elder sister, Therese, and her in-laws, the Kassners, at their home outside Linz. Ilse finds the Kassners to be hostile but their close family friend, Junius von Hess, to be handsome and beguiling. Soon, she falls in love with him, even as tensions are increasing across Europe. In a novel divided into four parts, spanning more than two decades, DeBruney’s lyrical and briskly paced writing drawing readers into Ilse’s world. At first, experiencing a romance with Junius seems to be Ilse’s main purpose in life. DeBruney’s prose description of the young people’s feelings is particularly enchanting: “Rare is the mind that can resist the chemical pull of pleasures so foreign, sensations so new.” Yet, as the novel progresses, the author steps away from pure romance, extending Ilse’s journey into one of the mind and having her seek comfort in her own personhood. Both aspects of the story make it compelling, and strong research and attention to detail enhance it further; several footnotes expand on specifics, such as German language usage, literary references, and historical events. Although the time-jumps between the four parts (set in 1914, 1922, 1934, and 1936) can be jarring, the story remains satisfying as it plays with readers’ knowledge of the First and Second World Wars.
A pleasing historical coming-of-age tale set in a Europe in flux.Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9798989556427
Page Count: 341
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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 debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.
A high school senior pursues an affair with her teacher.
Seventeen-year-old Waldo, the narrator of McCurdy’s fiction debut, lives in Anchorage, Alaska, with her mother, though she’s long been the parent in their relationship. She heats her own frozen meals and pays the bills on time while her mom chases man after man and makes well-meaning promises she never keeps. Waldo blows her Victoria’s Secret wages on online shopping sprees and binges on junk food, inevitably crashing after the fleeting highs of her indulgences. Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher, has “thinning hair and nose pores”; he’s 40 years old and married with a child. Nevertheless—or possibly as a result?—Waldo’s attraction to him is “instant. So sudden it’s alarming. So palpable it’s confusing.” Mr. Korgy professes to want to keep their friendship aboveboard, but after a sexual encounter at the school’s winter formal that she initiates, an affair begins. Will this reckless pursuit be the one that actually satisfies Waldo, and is she as mature as she thinks she is? Waldo is a keen observer of people and provides sharp commentary on the punishing work of female beauty. Readers of McCurdy’s bestselling memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died (2022), will surely be curious about the tumultuous mother-daughter relationship, and it is one of the novel’s highlights, full of realistic pity and anger and need. (“I want to scream at her. I want her to hug me.”) Unfortunately, the prose is often unwieldy and sometimes downright cringeworthy: When Waldo tells Mr. Korgy she loves him, “The words hang in the air in that constipated way they do when you know that you shouldn’t have said them.” Waldo frequently lists emotions and adjectives in triplicate, and events that could be significant aren’t sufficiently explored or given enough space to breathe before the novel races on to the next thing.
A debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780593723739
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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