An Archive of Brightness

Straddling the line between poetry and prose, Socha’s melancholy debut novella is a set of nonlinear, dialogue-light queer human romances as documented by the birds that watch the stories unfolding. Crows compile the eponymous archive, which includes stories of a girl who sprouts wings, the missed connection between a scientist and an assistant chef in an Antarctic research station (as observed by the penguins), the enemies-to-lovers saga of two women in a desert full of scorpion-bone homes, the first kiss of two lobstermen in Maine, a tearful goodbye between two girls in Vermont, and a variant of the Brothers Grimm’s “The Six Swans” retold with seven geese. Interspersed are musings on the birds themselves and the ways in which finding and losing love can feel apocalyptic. The dreamy, shifting narration causes some confusion, but readers who embrace the nontraditional format will be rewarded with clever wordplay and quiet philosophy. The result is a quirky tribute to the messy, often world-changing experience of love. (Aug.)