Brother & Sister Enter the Forest

Mirabella debuts with the moving story of two estranged siblings whose attempt at reconnection forces them to reckon with and mend their individual wounds. Willa, a 30-something nurse, is dating a quintessential Good Guy—a farm boy turned veterinary student—but keeps him at arm’s length. In her youth, her troubled older brother, Justin, was the kind of miserable attention-getter who “the trees bowed around.” Fifteen years ago, Justin went on the lam with his lover, Nick, after Nick assaulted a homophobic bully. Perhaps unsurprisingly, their fugitive run turned violent. As well, Justin has struggled with alcoholism, and one day he arrives on Willa’s doorstep, hoping to be healed by the one person who’s looked out for him. Willa, though, is hesitant, having been the peacekeeper between Justin and their mother as a child. The relationship between Willa and Justin is by turns contentious and tender, though the shifts in their interactions sometimes feel engineered to raise the dramatic stakes. Mirabella’s plain prose, meanwhile, belies the melancholic bitterness of the characters’ strained exchanges. It’s a gripping if sometimes maudlin meditation on the difficulties of youth and the salvation that can be found in family. (Mar.)