A scattered debut.
A dizzying tale of guerrilla resistance in the face of growing totalitarianism.
When Colonel Firebrand, a freedom fighter in the People’s Resistance Committee Guerrilla Army of a fictionalized future India, hears the voice of a scarecrow while out for a cigarette, he thinks he’s being pranked by one of his soldiers. But the voice is no trick—it’s the ghost of General Konstantin Rokossovsky, a long-dead Soviet officer, come to warn Firebrand of an impending shift in the war the PRC is engaged in. Firebrand and the PRC are fighting on behalf of the Sands region, which declared itself an independent nation following an aggressive land acquisition attempt by the republic and its president, Nida Dodi. Dodi, a “far-right religious-party leader,” needs Sands’ resources to maintain power, and the republic’s attempts to take over the land lead to a full-blown civil war. But the pace of the war has changed as of late: An attempt by one of Dodi’s allies to detonate a neutron bomb in Calcutta is foiled by PRC forces, and soon Firebrand and his allies find themselves visited, quite strangely, by all manner of historical ghosts and prophetic animals, who warn of an impending attack by the republic. The clairvoyant creatures carry instructions to ensure Sands’ survival in the coming escalation, and in the course of heeding their advice, Firebrand is brought face to face with the family he thought he’d lost. Bhattacharya’s debut leaps wildly among perspectives and introduces a staggering array of secondary characters, many of whom play no significant part in the action; the novel also leans heavily on extended sections detailing military activity at the expense of developing characters.
A scattered debut.Pub Date: July 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781803093574
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Seagull Books
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2024
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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