Turnaway

One man's impulse to pursue innocence and beauty drives Browner's enchanting and offbeat second novel (after Conglomeros). The tale is narrated by Ben Givens, a misanthropic urbanite in his early 30s who, through a freakish boating accident, is marooned on Turnaway, an unmapped 20-acre island off Manhattan. There, he meets an elderly doctor and his ward, Elias Hutchinson, 29, who pretends the 20th century doesn't exist and spends his time reminiscing about the glory days of the Siwanoy, a Native American tribe of which he claims to be the last living member. Attracted to Elias's pure-hearted simplicity, Ben invites him to Manhattan, where Elias can pursue the chimera of his ideal mate. To his credit, Browner never succumbs to easy cliches about the noble savage visiting the big city: Elias remains true to himself but is able to navigate the concrete canyons with remarkable ease. When the last of the Siwanoys meets Emily Wolfe--the true love he has long dreamed of--she returns his affections immediately, leaving Ben to wonder how intimacy has eluded him for so long. Browner pulls off the audacious feat of creating a wickedly comic tale that's also a heartfelt paean to the glories of friendship and nostalgia, and to the mythmaking impulse in us all. (May)