THERE IS A DOOR IN THIS DARKNESS

The eight days surrounding the 2020 U.S. presidential election form the backdrop for one young woman’s journey through grief.

Wilhelmina Hart was supposed to spend the year after high school in Pennsylvania with her beloved aunts, a polyamorous trio she’s summered with forever. Then her aunt Frankie, who “used to make the world shine,” died, and now Covid-19 has her aunts Margaret and Esther crowded into Wilhelmina’s family’s suburban Boston apartment. Wilhelmina, who’s short, fat, and experiences chronic pain, is reduced to running errands and overseeing her younger siblings’ remote schooling. Julie and Bee, her best friends, are in a pandemic pod without her. And “the monster” is poised to win re-election. But Wilhelmina is suddenly having strange experiences, shared, inexplicably, with attractive classmate James Fang, who’s of Italian and Chinese descent. In her customary meticulous prose, Cashore nails the grinding misery of the moment, with masks fogging glasses and tempers flaring. Scenes from summers past are interleaved with the day-by-day narrative, providing backstory. The climax is signaled at the beginning of each chapter, starting with the first: “On the Friday eight days before Wilhelmina stepped into her own, she…” Her own what? readers will wonder as Wilhelmina struggles against enveloping unhappiness. If the answer to what is a bit anticlimactic in its specifics, the emotional work it takes Wilhelmina to get there is honest and true. Aunt Esther is Jewish and Afro-Cuban, Julie is Black, and other major characters are white.

A complex, deliberate examination of grief and recovery.