Necessary Arrangements

Debut novelist Michna wastes no time getting to her subject matter: on the first page, Asia Swenson is told her breast cancer has returned and metastasized. As Asia braces herself to inform her parents and sister at a family dinner, her sister, Lucy, is preparing to announce her engagement. The plot charts Asia’s struggle to fight her disease, the accommodations she must make at work and her unwavering goal to be the maid of honor at her sister’s wedding. But the heart of the novel is the changing dynamics in the relationship between the sisters and Asia’s unexpected budding romance with Brandon Peters, the “slick” investment firm colleague who takes over her clients when Asia is too sick to work full time. While these relationships are believable, the parents are cardboard constructions; especially the father, who is almost nonexistent, even when he’s in the room. But the sisters’ sensitive dynamic and the portrayal of Asia’s manifold struggles ring true. It’s hard to imagine readers finishing this with dry eyes. (Sept.)