cover image The Widower

The Widower

Liesel Litzenburger, . . Crown/Shaye Areheart, $23 (274pp) ISBN 978-0-307-33879-2

The wounded of heart and mind take the slow lane to redemption in this quiet debut novel, set in a small town in northern Michigan. Feisty Grace Blackwater tends to two damaged men: her uncle, Joseph Geewa, recently freed from a 20-year stint in prison (for a crime of passion), and Swan Robey, home again after being badly injured in a New Year's Eve car accident that killed his wife. Wracked with guilt, Swan recuperates in isolation while Joseph works in the Robey family orchard. The two men are thrown together when Joseph discovers an abandoned baby in the orchard—setting off an improbable road trip. Grace, meanwhile, must address her own guilt for having pined for Swan's love before the accident occurred. Other characters' perspectives are woven in: Ray Ford, the EMT who saved Swan's life; Grace's mother, Ramona, who has been hiding the gun Joseph used 20 years before; and Dawn, the troubled young mother passing through town. Written in the present tense and hopping from past to present, Litzenburger's narrative is pleasantly unmoored. Though the plot is thin and leans heavily on implausible encounters, Litzenburger's prose lends luster and mystery to an otherwise conventional story. (Aug.)