Starling Days

The moving new novel by the author of Harmless Like You, a New York Times Book Review Editors&; Choice and NPR Great Read

On their first date, Mina told Oscar that she was bisexual, vegetarian, and on meds. He married her anyhow. A challenge to be met. She had low days, sure, but manageable. But now, maybe not so much … Mina is standing on the George Washington Bridge late at night, staring over the edge, when a patrol car drives up. She tries to convince the policeman she&;s not about to jump, but he doesn&;t believe her. Oscar is called to pick her up.

With the idea of leaving New York for London&;a place for Mina &;to learn the floorplan of this sadness&;&;Oscar arranges a move. In London, Mina, a classicist, tries grappling with her mental health issues by making lists. Of WOMEN WHO SURVIVED&;Penelope, Psyche, Leda. Iphigenia, but only in one of the tellings. Of things that make her HAPPY&;enamel coffee cups. But what else? She at last finds a beam of light in Phoebe, and friendship and attraction blossom until Oscar and Mina&;s complicated love is tested.

A gorgeously wrought novel, variously about love, mythology, mental illness, Japanese beer, and the times we need to seek out milder psychological climates, Rowan Hisayo Buchanan&;s Starling Days&;written in exquisite prose rich with lightly ironic empathy&;is a complex and compelling work of fiction by a singularly gifted young writer.