In Berns’ debut novel, a married couple charts an uncertain and surprising course.

Paul and Susan Winslow are a couple in their 30s. They adore old movies and old movie soundtracks. When they’re together, they really get a kick out of quoting lines from films like Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? At the beginning of the story, Paul has just returned home from Massachusetts where he gave an address as a visiting Emerson scholar. Paul is a Ralph Waldo Emerson academic expert with designs on tenure. He and Susan dream of financial security so they can finally commit to having a baby. But Paul has come back from his trip “hungry for something deeper” in life after speaking with an “illuminating” woman in her 80s. He is not quite himself, and he wonders if he needs to take a break from teaching, perhaps even take a sabbatical and travel to Oregon. Susan will have none of it. She thinks maybe it’s time to end their marriage. The two go their separate ways to fume. Paul has a significant encounter with some coyotes after he takes a walk into the desert. Susan has a supernatural visit from Mr. Emerson himself while she’s passed out drunk and concussed in the driveway. Will they stay together when the dust settles? They share quirky interests, but their personalities are very different. Paul has New Age leanings (he brings home a dowsing rod from his trip), while Susan is thoroughly practical. Yet while Paul’s engaging standoff with the coyotes is tense and teaches him about life’s fragility, Susan’s time learning with Emerson is long-winded. Emerson tells Susan things like she possesses “a sharp mind to meet all and every challenge” that feel more saccharine than insightful. The frequent dialogue includes unnecessary proclamations like “Alright, I’ve said everything I can.” Nevertheless, the reader is left to wonder how things will conclude and if the rift will really be the end of this curious match.

An overly chatty but memorable and nuanced tale of transcendentalism.