Bewilderment is the latest novel by Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Powers. It tells the story of a widower trying to raise his autistic ten-year-old son in what seems an unforgiving world. Behavioral problems aside, the boy’s sensitivity is displayed as if he has no defenses against an environmentally challenged world. He cares so deeply about the natural world; he goes into intense rages. It’s as if he has no skin, no barrier to protect him. Both father and son are still profoundly grieving the loss of the beloved mother. The father, an astrophysicist, grounds his son by describing fictional other worlds on other planets where life has different challenges. Both father and son are broken and struggling to stay above water.

The tragedy at the center of this beautifully written story offers hope for the son and the father but ultimately is unyielding. Worth reading but not for the faint of heart.

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams was an Audible selection. Queenie is a millennial trying to navigate as a black woman in modern-day London. A paralyzing break-up generates a sequence of events which ultimately lead to a breakdown. Without a past to support and inform her decisions, she flounders. Her survival instinct kicks in along with the support of her close friends and the begrudging, support of her old-school, Haitian extended family. A bright center is the family’s ultimate growth and support.

Surprising and touching, we alternately yell in frustration and cheer for Queenie as she makes her way. Recommend.