Twelve Months and a Day

Young (Devotion) immerses readers in a bittersweet narrative of loss and love as two ghosts join forces to help those they left behind overcome their loneliness. Though never married, pregnant London filmmaker Róisín Kennedy considers herself a widow after her fiancé, Nico, dies from a heart attack at 36. Meanwhile, in Scotland, musician Rasmus Sartorius is devastated after his wife, Jay, dies at 38 from sarcoidosis, a pulmonary illness. Jay and Nico meet once they’re both already dead, helping each other to accept that they’re ghosts now—and hatching a plan to match up their significant others. When Róisín’s work assigns her to film Rasmus’s concert and interview the artist, the pair butt heads when Rasmus refuses to be interviewed. They reconnect through apologetic emails, each learning more about the other and sharing in their mutual loss. Their correspondence leads into an intense IRL relationship, but to reach a happy ending the duo must navigate the murky waters of grief and survivor’s guilt. In lyrical prose, Young crafts a deeply emotional depiction of two people trying to move on while wrestling with immense sorrow. Meanwhile, the ghostly duo adds levity as they try to make sense of their spectral existence. The result is an impressive and poignant romance. Agent: Eleanor Jackson, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner. (Jan.)