How the Light Gets in

Maynard continues the story of Eleanor, the resilient New Hampshire matriarch featured in 2020’s Count the Ways, with this heartwarming chronicle of a woman coping with changes in her life and in the country. Eleanor is estranged from her 30-something daughter, Ursula, who blames her mother for the breakup of their once tight-knit family, though it was Cam, Eleanor’s ex-husband, who left her for their babysitter, Coco. Eleanor’s son, Toby, who sustained brain damage in a childhood accident, tends goats on Eleanor’s farm and is generally well-liked by their neighbors, but after Donald Trump enters the presidential race in 2016, Eleanor senses a new mean-spiritedness around town, which she blames in part for Coco wrongly accusing Toby of molesting children. After Ursula develops long Covid, Eleanor takes care of her two children, who are in high school and middle school. Later, Eleanor finds romance with a climate activist, her first serious relationship with a man for many years, and she considers how much she’s sacrificed over the years by putting her family first. Maynard’s punchy chapters highlight pivotal moments in her characters’ lives, and she holds readers’ interest by showing how their relationships evolve. The author’s fans will be pleased. (June)