Stewart O’ Nan’s fiction has always paid close attention to the people and relationships that shape us. In his new novel “Evensong” he brings that attention to bear on a vivid cast orbiting Emily Maxwell as she enters her 90s. This is the concluding chapter in a trilogy that began with “Wish You Were Here” and continued in “Emily Alone” and it widens the lens to explore not only Emily’s interior life but the network of care surrounding her.
Central to the novel’s warmth is the humpy-dumpty club, the church basement fellowship of elderly women who meet to exercise, check-in on one another, and gently knit together a community where vulnerability is understood rather than feared. Their presence offers Emily a lifeline an antidote to solitude to remind her that she still belongs to the world.
Stewart O’ Nan is the author of numerous books including “Ocean State,” “Wish You Were Here,” “Everyday People,” “In the Walled City,” and my personal favorite “Last Night at the Lobster.”
