Second Lives

A deeply resonant novel delving into the complexities of grief, healing, and identity, following a foundering poet who returns from a writers retreat to find her husband and son dead. Lenore, a critically-acclaimed poet whose latest collection tanked after a bad review, has spent much of the last year cooped up inside her house. After a tragic accident, which led to the death of her husband and son while she was away at a literary festival, she has chosen to live the remainder of her miserable life in self-imposed exile. Her only interactions with the outside world are with her overbearing sister whom she sends proof of life updates everyday via the completed daily Wordle challenge, the young woman who carelessly delivers her groceries to her doorstep, and the couple from LustforLife, a sex & travel vlog she watches. To kickstart Lenore’s recovery, her sister signs her up for a litany of therapists and psychoanalysts, all who suggest that she stop being a baby and just get over it. Lenore rebuffs them all, until she meets a delightfully unprofessional counselor who isn’t too pushy.