Miss Subways

Actor (The X-Files) and novelist (Holy Cow; Bucky F*cking Dent) Duchovny uses an Irish folktale as a central idea for this excellent exercise in magical realism. Emer provides moral and financial support for her live-in boyfriend, Con, in New York City and seems relatively happy despite Con's infidelities. Every day, she takes the subway to work. One night, a Celtic fairy knocks on her door and shows her the future using a cell phone app in which Con is killed in a car accident. In order to avoid this fate, Emer must agree to sever all connections to Con. She agrees to this and wakes to a reconfigured life. However, she keeps running into Con on the subway, and their familiar attraction is inescapable. Their reunion causes the fairy to reappear, and a third life as queen of the subway begins for Emer. This experience is short-lived as partnerships rearrange themselves and Con steps in front of a train. Not to worry. True love, it appears, is unconquerable. Infusing humor and New York history throughout, Duchovny captures the female psyche in Emer, whose inner monologs supply the bulk of this story.