Take What You Need

Award-winning poet and novelist Novey (Ways To Disappear) offers a dual-perspective narrative that begins with Leah learning that her former stepmother Jean has passed away and has left her large metal sculptures, aka “Manglements,” to her. Leah is surprised at this, as the two women shared a strained, meager relationship after Jean left Leah’s father. Following the divorce, Jean became a self-taught welding sculptor who idolized artists Louise Bourgeois and Agnes Martin and spent her days constructing pieces made from scrap metal. Elliott, an unemployed young man who assisted Jean with her artwork, tracks down Leah to inform her of Jean’s death. Leah travels with her husband and toddler to Jean’s home in an economically depressed area of the Pennsylvania Alleghenies; although the visit is uneasy, it helps Leah to reconcile her complicated relationship with Jean. The book rushes to its conclusion with Leah’s endeavor to find a home for the Manglements serving as a vehicle for her grief. Read by the author and Christina Delaine, whose voice work shines, especially in her portrayal of Elliott.