AND THE STARS KEPT WATCH

A Maine couple deals with tragic loss and the breakup of their marriage in Friedrich’s debut novel.

Nathan Osgood works as a financial adviser. His wife, Catherine, has a burgeoning career as a bankruptcy attorney. They’ve worked in New York and Boston, but now they live in Maine with their two little kids. Nathan is out riding an ATV with his sons one winter day when he crosses a frozen pond. The ATV falls through the ice, and the children are trapped. Nathan surfaces, but a hastily assembled rescue operation fails, and the kids don’t survive. A shattered Nathan is kept heavily sedated on suicide watch in a facility; on his release, he continues to meet with a psychiatrist. Catherine blames Nathan for the tragedy, and they immediately separate. As time goes by, she rebuffs even the slightest attempt to communicate. Deputies show up at Nathan’s house to arrest him after a grand jury indicts him on two counts of manslaughter. With conviction a strong possibility and no support coming from Catherine, Nathan relies on family, friends, and his lawyer to get him through a terrible time. Friedrich’s novel about loss and the search for a path to healing is sensitively told in a carefully composed narrative that aims to fairly represent both Catherine’s and Nathan’s perspectives. Discussions about dealing with death and the future of the marriage are often with trusted family members or clergy and offer insights about attaining solace. Considering the tragedy in this book, however, some scenes feel superficially rendered.

A well-constructed novel about tragedy and healing.