cover image A Lesser Light

A Lesser Light

Peter Geye. Univ. of Minnesota, $27.95 (512p) ISBN 978-1-5179-1637-4

Geye (The Ski Jumper) sets this masterful tale about the limits of faith and fidelity on the rugged shore of Lake Superior. After Radcliffe student Willa Brandt’s father dies by suicide in 1910, her mother insists she return home to Duluth, Minn., and marry someone with the means to save them from destitution. Willa reluctantly weds Theodulf Sauer, the rigid Catholic son of a leading Duluth family. The couple move to the lake shore, where Theodulf has just been made chief keeper of a new lighthouse. Theodulf, who harbors shame over a sexual encounter a decade earlier, finds solace in his nighttime routine at the lighthouse and gazes at the lake’s abyss while struggling to pray. Willa, who studied astronomy and is more interested in Halley’s Comet than cooking, defies Theodulf’s demands for wifely obedience and never consummates the marriage. Instead, she bonds with their fisherman neighbor, Mats Braaten, and finds glimmers of a more authentic and satisfying life when they become lovers. Geye portrays the stark landscape in luminous prose, and he eschews a simple black-and-white story of marital conflict for something much more surprising and complex. This bittersweet narrative astounds. Agent: Jesseca Salky, Salky Literary Management. (Apr.)