Slow Dance

Rowell makes a triumphant return to adult fiction with her latest, a sometimes-melancholy but ultimately uplifting women’s fiction/contemporary romance crossover. The novel follows Shiloh and Cary, teenage best friends who drifted apart before they slam back into each other’s lives at a friend’s wedding years later. Shiloh, now divorced and with two small children, is living at home with her mother in a run-down Omaha neighborhood; Cary, now a grown man, is a naval officer. Both Shiloh and Cary are intensely relatable, though portions of the book may bring back uncomfortable memories of awkward teen years, and their courtship is simultaneously romantic and full of the practicalities of two people with established lives trying to become a family. Rowell uses a deft hand while building the story, moving seamlessly between past and present as she excavates those embarrassing high school years and uncovers the adults Shiloh and Cary grew into. Readers who enjoyed Landline and Eleanor & Park will be glad to return to Rowell’s unique storytelling style and lyrical prose.