When a man’s wife dies in a freak accident and then starts popping up randomly—in the street, the supermarket, the backyard—either the man has turned denial into an art form or he’s being trailed by a ghost. Any way you read it, something is clearly still going on between Aaron, who has a limp and a stutter but no tolerance for cosseting, and Dorothy, his no-fuss, no-nonsense doctor wife. By the end of Anne Tyler’s warm, smart, deliciously written fiction, The Beginner’s Goodbye (Knopf), it’s obvious that even the most deeply buried truth can come back to haunt you.
Next: 'Drop Dead Healthy' by A.J. Jacobs
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