cover image Some Assembly Required

Some Assembly Required

Lynn Kiele Bonasia, . . Touchstone, $14 (321pp) ISBN 978-1-4165-5059-4

After her relationship sours, Rose Nowak heads to the small town of Nauset on Cape Cod in this enjoyable debut novel. She quickly finds her place in the community and lands a job as a reporter for the local independent weekly. Among the new people Rose meets is Noel, a 22-year-old autistic savant whose talent for painting inspires Rose to write a story that gets picked up by USA Today. When boozy Simon Beadle reads about his nephew in a Florida hospital while recovering from a maritime accident, he becomes determined to get sober, return to Nauset and build a relationship with Noel. As the town prepares for its tricentennial, Rose and Simon grow close and the truth about several town secrets are exposed. Bonasia's portrait of a waterfront community's triumphs and squabbles is as endearing as it is convincing. (July)