A CLEFT IN THE WORLD

A shy, agoraphobic French professor must save her school and win the heart of her first love in this romance.

Georgie Bricker’s personal and professional lives collide when Willa Cather College, where she’s taught for the past 24 years, faces financial trouble. To stave off bankruptcy and closure, the school hires Truman Parker, who happens to be Georgie’s first love, as an interim vice president of finance and administration. Wafler revisits the characters of her earlier novel, Georgie Girl (2020), but even if the romance rekindles quickly and perhaps too predictably, the relationship navigates new emotional terrain. “Does Truman like me for the me I am now or for his former Georgie Girl?” Georgie wonders after spending the night at her lover’s house. The couple must face not only the insecurities of age and a pregnancy scare, but also mounting pressure from Truman’s family. Separated from his wife, he is desperate to remain close with his twin sons, Trask and Asher, now juniors at nearby George Wythe College. Truman’s mother, Eleanor, has a long history of interfering with matters of the heart, especially when it comes to issues of class and money. Georgie has never been Eleanor’s idea of a good match. But it is not until Georgie makes a startling discovery about Eleanor’s plot to undermine her favorite student, Laurel Cross, that the professor channels her determination and passion into a series of creative projects to save her school. The college’s plight means more to her than anyone else. Childhood trauma left Georgie terrified of leaving her home, so for two decades, she’s barely driven a few miles from the campus. The moves in Wafler’s uplifting romance sometimes feel like staples of the genre (“Follow the candles around to the back,” reads one of Truman’s notes to Georgie), and most of the young characters are idealistic and see the world through rose-colored glasses. Truman’s sons shift their affections easily to Georgie as soon as their father’s new paramour cooks them dinner. But the enjoyable and surprising novel makes up for this with genuine emotions, a fast pace, and a cast of whimsical female players led by Georgie.

An engaging, feel-good love story with plenty of plot twists.