THE LUCID NYMPH

Gist’s character-driven novel explores a woman’s lingering relationship from the past.

It’s 1986 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, when 13-year-old Hazel Walczak first meets Teddy Spencer after putting together a summer reading list. Teddy is dating Hazel’s older sister, Isabel, and he’s clearly trouble from the start, with his Playboy bunny lighter and devil-may-care attitude. He is also 18. Hazel, in her stirrup pants and Garfield shirt, is intrigued by this rebel. In time, Teddy and Isabel break up. A few years later, after Teddy and Hazel share an awkward sexual experience together, they begin dating in secret. When Teddy decides to go to Europe for a while, Hazel is left wondering what she was doing with him to begin with; she’s just wasted an entire youthful summer on this slacker, who, years later in therapy, she will identify as a manipulative narcissist. Back in the 1980s, Hazel carries on with her life, making some friends in high school and finding her true calling in baking. Even with Teddy gone, Hazel is not immune to his influence—his postcards from abroad don’t exactly inspire calm in her aching teenage heart. Hazel’s life is further complicated by her alcoholic mother, who always seems keen on stirring up trouble. Years later, in the early 2000s, Hazel lives in Chicago, running a catering business with her sister. She’s married to an even-keeled accountant and is raising two lovely children; all is essentially well in Hazel’s world. But when she journeys back to Michigan to comfort a friend, who should she run into? It’s a snowy evening, and Teddy is eager to reconnect. 

The author paints a vivid picture of Hazel. Her changes over the years follow a compelling progression as she goes from innocent youngster to moody teenager to settled professional. And just when the narrative gets comfortable with Hazel’s happy life in Chicago, events take a surreal turn; readers will come to question just what is happening to this poor woman. Yet some portions of Hazel’s life stretch out without offering much dramatic satisfaction—for instance, she meets her essentially perfect husband, Phil, when her company does the catering for his family’s company Christmas party in a lengthy, largely uneventful scene, followed by a less lengthy though equally uneventful courtship. Hazel describes her relationship with Phil by saying “I was safe and loved, and it was pure and real.” She describes her honeymoon visit to Paris with the observation that the city is “romantic, breathtaking.” Such terms don’t reveal much beyond the obvious. The story’s excitement comes from the two principal antagonists: Teddy, and Hazel’s mother, Joanne. The story is propelled by the question of what, if any, destruction Hazel’s chance encounter with Teddy will bring, and what manner of chaos Joanne will introduce into Hazel’s adult life. When Teddy is offering to go out for a drink or Joanne is banning someone from Hazel’s wedding, the tension runs high—when the story veers from their machinations, the conflict evaporates. Still, as readers come to know Hazel throughout the chapters, they’re likely to remain curious about her fate.

Though the tension sometimes slackens, the novel features a memorable, multifaceted protagonist.