Earth’s the Right Place for Love

Berg revisits the protagonist of her 2017 novel The Story of Arthur Truluv with this gentle coming-of-age. In 1947 Missouri, 16-year-old Arthur Moses has a crush on Nola McCollum, but she has her eyes on Arthur’s older brother, Frank, a high school senior. Frank, though, has been secretly dating the new, young English teacher Mary Anker. He also bears the brunt of their father, Eugene’s rages, sparked partly by Eugene’s frustration over his declining milk delivery business. Taking advice from Frank, Arthur works up the nerve to ask Nola to the movies, only to have their date called off when a tornado rips through town. More complications, including another boy swooping in to take credit for Arthur’s gift of flowers, stymie him further. Frank, meanwhile, learns Mary is pregnant, upending his hopes of becoming a writer. The stakes generally feel pretty low—Berg homes in on the family’s everyday moments, as Arthur picks up wisdom from older neighbors and Eugene lands a new job—so when a freak accident involving Frank arrives, it feels a bit jarring. Still, Berg does a nice job tending to the slow-burn romance between Arthur and Nola, which readers of the earlier book know will lead to a lifelong marriage. The author’s fans ought to be satisfied. Agent: Suzanne Guck, WME. (Mar.)