by Anne Tyler
First published 2020
Micah Mortimer has his Baltimore life mapped out precisely. He fixes computers for clients, manages his apartment building, and follows the same routines day after day. His relationship with Cassia fits neatly into this controlled world until she arrives with devastating news about losing her apartment. Then a teenage boy appears at Micah's door with an even bigger shock. The kid insists Micah is his father. These two bombshells shatter the careful boundaries Micah has built around himself. His methodical approach to everything suddenly feels inadequate. The woman he cares about needs help he's not sure how to give. The boy demands answers Micah doesn't have. As his predictable world crumbles, Micah must decide whether to retreat further into isolation or risk the messy complications of truly connecting with other people. The choice will determine not just his future but who he really is beneath all those protective routines.
Genres: american-fiction, contemporary, adult-fiction, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, slice-of-life
Setting: Baltimore
Period: 21st-century
178 pages · Hardcover · Knopf Publishing Group