Unbecoming

A middle-aged college professor taps into her magical ability in the midst of personal and professional chaos in this excellent feminist fantasy from Wheeler (The Receptionist and Other Tales). Cynthia’s world is falling apart. She’s suffering through hot flashes, her husband’s off in North Carolina, her teenage children are testing their wings, and her best friend, Alisa, has left on a mysterious faculty exchange program with a remote college in Wales. Stepping into Alisa’s professorial role at Cynthia’s small liberal arts college in Virginia is the oddly charismatic Sophia “Fee” Ellis, whose strange behaviors (sleeping outside, causing dogs to bark, looking right at anyone whispering about her even when she couldn’t have overheard) quickly become the talk of the English Department. As the bizarre happenings around Fee grow more extreme and Alisa proves impossible to reach, Cyn realizes that everything she wishes for, intentionally or no, seems to be coming true. Cyn will need help to understand what’s happening to her, but can she trust the secretive Fee for guidance? Wheeler’s prose is gorgeous and her characters are marvelously detailed. Cyn is by turns sarcastic and serious but always empathetic, and the mysterious Fee is surprisingly down-to-earth for all her arcane knowledge. Readers will be taken with this powerful and deeply satisfying tale. (May)