Novel

Tammy Bobrowsky talks with Rachel Lynn Solomon, writer and former public radio producer, about her new novel called "The Ex Talk." It’s a romantic comedy about two public radio personalities who fall in love while pretending to be exes.

Rachel Harrison is a writer from New York and The Return is her debut novel. Her story begins as Elise’s friend Julie goes missing during a hike in Acadia National Park, Elise doesn’t worry. Julie is willful and tempestuous and has been so ever since college. But weeks turn into months, and though Elise and other close friends mourn at Julie’s funeral, Elise who has always been closest to Julie, feels deep down that she can’t really be gone. Two years later, Julie reemerges from the woods, emaciated, with no memory of where she’s been.

Jude, Wendy, and Adele have been friends for the last 40 years. Now in their 70s, they gather for the Christmas weekend to pack up the beach house which belonged to Sylvie, their late friend. But without Sylvie to maintain the group’s delicate equilibrium, frustrations build and painful memories press in. Fraying tempers, an elderly dog, unwelcome guests and too much wine collide in a storm that brings long-buried hurts to the surface—and threatens to sweep away their friendship for good in Australian writer Charlotte Wood’s new book The Weekend.