Caitlin Hicks

PLAYWRIGHT. AUTHOR. PERFORMER. PRESENTER.

Search

My Kirkus Review

On  February 11th, my editor at Light Messages Publishing Elizabeth emailed me:

“Hi Caitlin, Good News! From the fiction editor at Kirkus…

“I have the galleys and am planning to assign a review.”
 

“This is always huge for a new author. Congrats!!

Girl reading the bibleSince 1933, Kirkus has been one of the most trusted and authoritative voices in the publishing industry. Virginia Kirkus (1893-1980), began reading book galleys from publishers and wrote brief, critical evaluations of their merit.  Based on these reviews, bookshops and libraries ordered & promoted books.  Now, 80 years later, Kirkus Reviews is distributed to more than 5,000 industry influencers, including bookstore buyers, librarians, publishers, agents, film executives and foreign publishers. It’s the first place publishers go – to test the waters for their books.

A month later, Elizabeth’s email made my day:

“A WONDERFUL review from Kirkus. Congratulations!!
“We will be using this pull quote to promote:

“Annie’s disarming voice evokes nostalgia for a bygone era and hope for humanity in a weary, modern world.” This is one of the most positive reviews we’ve had for one of our books. It’s incredibly hard for new authors with small presses. So I am over the moon. It’s a huge step. So excited for you!”

DO NOT SHARE publicly until after March 17 when the clip goes live on Kirkus. They really don’t like it when authors scoop them.”

Then Light Messages tweeted: “Fantastic review frm Kirkus 4 Hicks’ debut novel A THEORY OF EXPANDED LOVE. Can’t share details til March 17. Squealing w glee”

Ah, Twitter. I re-tweeted the squeal. Someone heard me! SQUEALing w Shelagh

“Disarming voice . . .”

“The astute observations of a little girl from a big Catholic family living in Pasadena in 1963.

“A middle child in a family of 13 kids, 12-year-old Annie is often a substitute parent for her younger siblings. When her father sends her older sister Clara to a shelter for unwed mothers to give birth in secret, Annie advocates for the unborn baby against her parents’ wishes and against the dogma of the Catholic Church. Annie questions her religion in her diary as she decides for herself the difference between right and wrong, and her prose distills the sweetness of childhood. The titular Theory of Expanded Love is her way of coping with having so many siblings: “You kind of love them in the background to everything,” she says, but the background noise of a family that size is deafening. Annie rushes to change her little brother’s diaper when her parents leave him alone to cry it out, but no one comes to Annie’s aid when an unseen pair of hands fondles her under the covers in her bedroom at night. If Annie can’t have a direct line to her parents, she hopes to at least have a direct line to God through her family’s friend Cardinal Stefanucci, who is in line to become the next pope. But is God really listening? In a conservative community where prayers go unanswered, sins go unpunished, and secrets never leave the confessional booth, God seems to help those who help themselves.

“Annie’s disarming voice evokes nostalgia for a bygone era and hope for humanity in a weary, modern world.”          KIRKUS, March 17, 2015

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/search/?q=A+Theory+of+Expanded+Love&t=all

USA - Religion - Catholic - Ascension

Copyright © 2015 Caitlin Hicks, All rights reserved.
A THEORY OF EXPANDED LOVE will be published June 12, 2015.

Available on Amazon, KOBO, CHAPTERS/Indigo, BARNES & NOBLE and wherever books are sold.

CONTACT: [email protected]  (919) 886-5498
Light Messages Publishing, 5216 Tahoe Drive, Durham, NC 27713 USA

Acclaimed Debut Novel

Republished by Sunbury Press this summer

recent posts

follow me

Take my recipe, please!

Mother Marcelle's Spaghetti, as discussed in my podcast, "Some kinda woman - Stories of Us"

Sign up for podcast and writing updates and receive a copy of the infamous “Mother Marcelle’s Spaghetti” – a favourite that fed a family of 16 in the 60’s