海角大神

There are many kinds of pandemic readers: the roll-up-their-sleeves researchers who make their own sourdough starter from dried fruit and some flour and water before re-grouting their bathroom; goal-oriented scholars who vow to finally knock out 鈥淲ar and Peace鈥� or 鈥淚n Search of Lost Time鈥�; the grass-is-blackened-and-crispy-on-the-other-side dystopia hunters.

I am not any of those readers. Give me a sense of community (or, in fact, NBC鈥檚 鈥淐ommunity,鈥� which has become our family鈥檚 equivalent of an apartment hearth fire during the pandemic).

Two debut novelists offer that in spades this spring. 鈥淭he Love Story of Missy Carmichael,鈥� by Beth Morrey, and 鈥淭he Big Finish,鈥� by Brooke Fossey, offer unconventional love stories and a recognition that 鈥渟ometimes we need mending and sometimes we need somebody else to help us thread the needle,鈥� as Fossey鈥檚 irrepressible protagonist Duffy Sinclair says.

Duffy is in his late 80s and lives in Centennial, one of two assisted living homes in Everton, Texas. The other one, whose name he refuses to utter on principle, strikes terror in the hearts of every resident, particularly since Centennial鈥檚 new owner wants to move out the long-term residents in favor of a higher-paying clientele.

For now, Duffy and his roommate Carl rule the roost 鈥渂ecause we were able-bodied for the most part, intellectually sound, and, as I point out ... movie-star handsome.鈥� One morning, a young woman with a black eye climbs in their window, claiming to be Carl鈥檚 granddaughter. Duffy, who鈥檚 in recovery, recognizes a fellow alcoholic and, against his better judgment, finds himself waging a campaign to help Josie 鈥� aided and abetted by Carl and several other charming characters. While the adventure comes in through the window, rather than Duffy going out of it, 脿 la 鈥淭he Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared,鈥� 鈥淭he Big Finish鈥� offers motorcycle rides, hitchhiking, kidnapping, and a big-hearted hero who鈥檚 willing to make a fool out of himself to help someone he just met. 鈥淵ou get to tell one story here, and you don鈥檛 get a rewrite,鈥� he tells Josie. 鈥淪o what do you want it to say?鈥�

In 鈥淭he Love Story of Missy Carmichael,鈥� septuagenarian Millicent Carmichael lives in a big, empty old house in London, desperately missing her husband, Leo. 鈥淸W]hen he was gone, the silence enveloped and overwhelmed me. Such crushing silence. It seemed like my whole life had been a cacophony, a constant buzzing and background chatter, and then Leo went and there was suddenly total and absolute stillness. Stillness, and silence and space. What I鈥檇 supposedly craved all those years, and it was the worst, most cloying thing I鈥檇 ever experienced.鈥�

During a fateful trip to the park, Missy does the totally unexpected: Makes a friend. Through a series of events, she finds herself the caregiver of Bob the dog, whose owner is fleeing an abusive spouse, and her life opens up after years of contracting. Instead of boy meets girl, it鈥檚 woman meets dog ... and ultimately, herself. Morrey unspools Missy鈥檚 life story gradually, in between chapters about Bob and the assorted friends who take Missy under their wing.

At a time when people are having to isolate, both these novels are a balm, offering an expansive sense of love and possibility at a time when the main characters feel like those chances are gone.