THE DISCONSOLATE

Bell’s debut novel set in modern-day Palm Springs, California, addresses lost love.

Bell’s fictional romance explores interactions between the living and the dead. Aislin Birch, a young woman, learns about the death of her first love, James Athelstan. Theirs was an epistolary romance conducted via 800-plus letters. James’ brother, Alen, invites Aislin to the funeral. She, somewhat implausibly, stays with James’ wife, Jade, and their two young boys per James’ wishes. Aislin travels through a sandstorm in Death Valley enroute to the funeral, reflecting on her pervasive depression: “Images of taking her life had followed her since adolescence, an overshadowing part of her fabric.” Aislin’s suicidal ideations play a key role throughout the novel (she “often admonished herself for catching her balance: Why can I not just fall and crack my head open?”). When an accident does happen, and she has the chance to join James in death, she “watched the body on the ground: her own body,” but she suddenly and vigorously clings to life. James, too, struggles, even in death. He is stuck in limbo with unresolved feelings for Aislin: “You—calling out that you love me, maintaining our truth that we will always be in love.” The author weaves a story of enduring, complicated love, but, unfortunately, the romantic tension communicated through letters sometimes falls flat. The second half reveals a significant plot twist that is a welcome change from James’ posthumous romance with Aislin, and we also learn more about the cast’s backstories, including James’ infidelity, Jade’s alcoholism, and Aislin’s regrets. Bell delves into thought-provoking ideas about spirits after death—for example, can the living see and feel spirits? While the connection between Aislin and James isn’t entirely convincing, Bell capably explores various forms of emotional pain.

A thoughtful, ghostly tale with a sometimes-tepid romance.