See: Loss. See Also: Love.

In this wry debut from Tominaga, a Japanese woman navigates single parenthood after her American husband’s untimely death. Kyoko is visiting her parents in Japan with her 18-month-old son, Alex, when her husband, Levi, is crushed to death in their San Francisco garage by the antique car he was working on. Kyoko had stopped working after Alex was born, and she struggles to see how she’ll afford her life in San Francisco. She cuts down on her costs, finds work at a preschool, and receives emotional support from her blunt and loving mother-in-law, Bubbe. The women’s relationship forms the heart of the episodic narrative, which includes a visit to a psychic who claims Levi wasn’t happy with Kyoko. At one point, Kyoko suppresses the urge to tell Bubbe how little she misses Levi, thinking, “The greatest gift he gave me was the opportunity to raise Alex alone”; at another, Bubbe affectionately calls Kyoko her daughter, not her daughter-in-law. Tominaga depicts the women’s tensions, misunderstandings, and affection with refreshing honesty and piercing insights (“Regret, resentment, and shame would build a wall around you, [Bubbe] believed, and by telling the truth we would break the wall and unite”). Tominga impresses with this distinctive slice of life. (May)