Consolation: A Novel by Deborah Shapiro

An incisive and atmospheric portrait of three women whose paths intersect after a loss – Consolation is a novel about life.

It attentively focuses on what happens when a celebrated photojournalist is killed in a car accident and three women whose lives overlapped with his are left to reckon with his absence. As these women, each of a different generation, navigate the emotional landscape of grief, they question how their lives have unfolded and how this loss might change their paths going forward. With empathy and humor, Consolation explores the connections and echoes that exist among these women as it looks at those ambiguous yet affecting relationships we never quite know how to define. And it delves into the complexities of modern life—the inauthenticity prompted in us all by social media; the gaps created by gender, age, and class that we’re forever trying to fill; and our collective struggle to balance the choices available to us in ways that will not foreclose either happiness or fulfillment. Whose losses do we deem valuable and whose work and ambitions are given room to grow? What happens when the footnotes become the story?

Publisher: B-Side Editions