LATE IN THE DAY

In this novel, three retirees struggling with their twilight years find solace in one another’s company.

Hank Bauer had all kinds of plans with his wife, Marilyn, when they retired to Atlantique, Florida, a “sleepy town with the sleepy ambition to remain so.” But his designs are waylaid by her death, which leaves him to navigate his 70s alone, haunted by grief, seeking some consolation in the Bible readings he regularly leads. Seth Erlich also retires to Atlantique—he has separated from his male partner, Yoni, of many years, a relationship that slowly dwindled from passionate to habitual. He doesn’t miss Yoni, but he does yearn for the comforting routine they had and is now bedeviled by “restlessness and gloom.” He fills the emotionally empty spaces in his life with cheap sexual assignations with strangers. Honey Cavanaugh lives in Atlantique with her husband, Glenn—their relationship began with great promise but proved profoundly unsatisfying, especially as he became increasingly “sulky, sedentary and overweight.” Then, Glenn dies, leaving her to sort out her existential torpor on her own. The three retirees meet walking on the local beach and become close friends, a serendipity Shapiro depicts with delicate subtlety and psychological astuteness: “Such objects were like small anchors, assuring them that they wouldn’t stray too far from the demands of the day as they bobbed about in the magic of their individual solitudes. This morning was different, however. The three of them felt it. There were new anchors, anchors with more weight, anchors that now had names—Honey, Hank, Seth—and that would require them to stop and chat.” That triadic friendship becomes more than a mutual crutch—they form something of a voluntary family and contemplate a radical decision to formally solidify it. This is a deeply affecting book, not just about the fear of aging, but also the need for human connection in the face of mortality.

A ruminative and moving exploration of friendship and death.