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ME AND MINE

“We’d been in a manageable amount of danger since we were born,” says Mars, the narrator, one of three brothers whose Black father appears to have been murdered and whose Greek Jewish mother, a community doctor, up and disappeared. White supremacist paramilitary and fascist groups prowl the shrunken city, where ID codes have been instituted at check points that separate the wealthy from the poor. Among the siblings, Amilcar, or AG, having “cooled out with the autodidactic revolutionary blueprint,” now works in the mayor’s office—or so his siblings, who lost touch with him, have heard. Lucius, or Lu, the “pitbull” of the family, and the pop culture savvy Mars have gotten involved in different ways with private security groups and armed resistance. A notable fourth party is Lu’s ex-girlfriend Minnijean Belafonte, aka Mini-Bel, head of an underground group whose fortifications “would make CIA blacksites proud.” Holmes’ impressive first novel, following his story collection, How Are You Going to Save Yourself (2018), proceeds with unstoppable energy, cutting through its sprawling narrative with tangy dialogue, wide-ranging cultural and historical references, and stinging social commentary: “Once you turn 30 it’s like they take the heart and soul out of a Black man in this country. And you don’t wanna fight no more.” Extreme weather—dreaded sprees of 110 degrees and conditions so cold that cops “who still had souls” pick up people to keep them from freezing to death—further weakens the city of broad shoulders. One can only wonder what Carl Sandburg would make of it.

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ME AND MINE

J.M. Holmes

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RELEASE DATE: Feb. 24, 2026

An uncategorizable novel that is as grimly amusing as it is unsettling.

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In pre-dystopian Milwaukee, where neighborhoods are partitioned, travel is restricted, and drinking water is limited, a racially blended family confronts racism as usual.

“We’d been in a manageable amount of danger since we were born,” says Mars, the narrator, one of three brothers whose Black father appears to have been murdered and whose Greek Jewish mother, a community doctor, up and disappeared. White supremacist paramilitary and fascist groups prowl the shrunken city, where ID codes have been instituted at check points that separate the wealthy from the poor. Among the siblings, Amilcar, or AG, having “cooled out with the autodidactic revolutionary blueprint,” now works in the mayor’s office—or so his siblings, who lost touch with him, have heard. Lucius, or Lu, the “pitbull” of the family, and the pop culture savvy Mars have gotten involved in different ways with private security groups and armed resistance. A notable fourth party is Lu’s ex-girlfriend Minnijean Belafonte, aka Mini-Bel, head of an underground group whose fortifications “would make CIA blacksites proud.” Holmes’ impressive first novel, following his story collection, How Are You Going to Save Yourself (2018), proceeds with unstoppable energy, cutting through its sprawling narrative with tangy dialogue, wide-ranging cultural and historical references, and stinging social commentary: “Once you turn 30 it’s like they take the heart and soul out of a Black man in this country. And you don’t wanna fight no more.” Extreme weather—dreaded sprees of 110 degrees and conditions so cold that cops “who still had souls” pick up people to keep them from freezing to death—further weakens the city of broad shoulders. One can only wonder what Carl Sandburg would make of it.

An uncategorizable novel that is as grimly amusing as it is unsettling.

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Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2026

ISBN: 9781945335495

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Common Notions

Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026

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LITERARY FICTION |

DYSTOPIAN FICTION |

GENERAL FICTION

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New York Times Bestseller

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THE CORRESPONDENT

Virginia Evans

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RELEASE DATE: May 6, 2025

An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.

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New York Times Bestseller

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.

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Pub Date: May 6, 2025

ISBN: 9780593798430

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025

Categories:

FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP |

LITERARY FICTION |

GENERAL FICTION

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HALF HIS AGE

Jennette McCurdy

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RELEASE DATE: Jan. 20, 2026

A debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.

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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.

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Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026

ISBN: 9780593723739

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026

Categories:

LITERARY FICTION |

GENERAL FICTION

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