THAT’S NOT A THING

An open-hearted lawyer is forced to choose between her fiance and her dying ex in Friedland’s (Trouble the Water, 2018) novel about love and forgiveness.

Meredith Altman is a successful Jewish attorney living in Manhattan and planning a wedding to handsome Aaron Rapp, a pediatric surgeon. However, in 2017, a celebratory dinner with friends changes everything: The Tribeca restaurant’s chef and owner is Wesley Latner, Meredith’s ex-fiance, whom she hasn’t seen in five years. Old feelings resurface in the form of flashbacks to their young love and Wesley’s unwavering support for Meredith’s tenuous family situation, which had her parents on the verge of divorce before her mother’s cancer diagnosis. Years later, to escape from the stress of the plans for their son’s wedding, Wesley’s parents set out on a vacation and were killed in a plane crash, causing a grief-stricken Wesley to blame Meredith for their deaths before he moved to London. Now that she’s engaged to another man, Meredith seeks closure before Wesley drops a bomb: He’s been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease, or ALS, and his body is rapidly deteriorating. Without consulting Aaron, Meredith invites Wesley to move into the apartment they share, and one intimate moment between Meredith and Wesley threatens Meredith’s relationship with her fiance as well as her sense of self. Can Aaron forgive Meredith for her slip, or is the dying Wesley the one Meredith was meant to be with all along? Friedland’s sharp prose and plotting make Meredith’s dilemma a relatable one: The pull between past and present can be difficult even when a debilitating illness isn’t part of the mix. But Friedland keeps the reader guessing about what Meredith will do—not only about her romantic partners, but also about her career as a lawyer who caters mainly to big tobacco companies. Unfortunately, the development of Meredith’s character often gets lost as she seeks to care for others: her parents, her future in-laws, the former and current men in her life. Though her do-gooder spirit is firmly established, not much else of Meredith’s personality is.

A complex and compelling romance with an underdeveloped heroine.