A Dog in Georgia

In the touching latest from Grodstein (We Must Not Think of Ourselves), a dejected 40-something woman travels halfway around the world to restore her sense of purpose. Amy Webb met her husband, Judd, 20 years earlier, while working as a line cook in his Manhattan restaurant. They married two years later, and she gave up her job not long after to help raise her stepson, Ferry. Several years ago, she turned to writing and became a college writing instructor, but she’s between assignments and classes, and Ferry is at Cornell for his sophomore year. After she sees sexually explicit messages from another woman on Judd’s phone, she suspects he is having yet another affair. She then embarks on a journey to Tbilisi, Georgia, to help find a lost dog named Angel. (She’s been following the search for Angel on social media and has sent donations to the cause.) Irine Benia, head of Angel’s search group in Tbilisi, offers to put her up. There, Amy encounters Irine’s elderly mother and aunts and her teenage daughter, Maia. She also meets Andrei, a mysterious, attractive boarder in their home who she considers sleeping with. As Amy gets her bearings in Tbilisi, the liberating effect of her desire for Andrei and surprising discoveries about Irine and Angel restore her long-buried instinct to put her needs first. The pleasure of the novel is in watching Amy’s transformation, which, despite being a well-worn trope, feels genuine. Readers will be transported. Agent: Julie Barer, Book Group. (Aug.)