Ten Things I’ve Learnt About Love

Alice, the youngest of three sisters, has felt oddly disconnected from her family since the death of her mother when she was four. Leaving her father and siblings and a failed romance in London, she sets out to travel the world, wandering from place to place until her sisters summon her home because their father is dying of pancreatic cancer. Alice is adrift and unsettled, unable to communicate her love to her father before he dies, and self-conscious about her choices when compared to her sisters. Alice alternates narration with Daniel, a 60-year old homeless man whose heart troubles are causing him to revisit his past, including the affair he had with a married woman. As Alice moves forward, cleaning her deceased father’s house and making peace with her sisters, Daniel works up the courage to approach her. The relationship they build is unusual, and Butler’s elegant prose—interspersed with thoughtful lists, such as “Ten things I know about my mother” and “Ten foods that stress me out,” written by Alice and Daniel—makes this a moving debut. Agent: Andrew Kidd, Aitken Alexander Associates (U.K.). (July)