Four Letters of Love: A Novel

While this story isn't terribly old, it feels decidedly old-fashioned. The story unspools slowly; the plot is anchored by four life-changing letters written decades apart. First we meet 12-year-old Nicholas Coughlan, whose father soon announces he's received a calling from God to quit his job and become a painter, with tragic and unforeseen consequences. In another part of Ireland, young Isabel Gore is a poet's daughter, whose life is upended when her beloved and talented brother suffers a terrible seizure that make his planned future impossible. We know the two are destined to connect, and Williams methodically (perhaps miraculously?) weaves their paths together. One of my favorite books of 2021 was Shirley Hazzard's The Transit of Venus; the tone of Williams's story reminded me very much of Hazzard's.