This Is a Love Story

A New York City artist reckons with her terminal illness in the poignant if overstuffed latest from Soffer (Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots). Jane, a successful painter, is dying of cancer. Her husband, celebrated author Abe, sits at her bedside and takes her on visits to nearby Central Park, where they recount their relationship, beginning with when they met at Tavern on the Green; Jane was working there to put herself through art school and Abe had just graduated from Wharton. After they marry and have a son, Jane deals with postpartum depression and worries her career is over. Other sections follow their 30-year-old son, Max, a womanizing art dealer who resents Jane for giving more time to her work than to him, and Alice, a graduate student of Abe’s who falls in love with him. The narration feels somewhat fragmented and sluggish, especially in recurring digressions on Central Park as a place where people fall in love (“In the Park, there is handholding, making out, blushing, the sharing of ham and cheese sandwiches, iced teas, double chocolate chip cookies, blazers, gloves, tissues, and headphones playing Billie Holiday”). Soffer is better when she keeps the focus on the main characters. Patient readers will find something to appreciate in this delicate meditation on love. Agent: Julie Barer, Book Group. (Feb.)