A Season of Light

Iromuanya (Mr. and Mrs. Doctor) gracefully explores intergenerational trauma in this intriguing tale of two immigrant families in Econlockhatchee, Fla. When Boko Haram kidnaps 276 schoolgirls in 2014 Nigeria, the news triggers Fidelis Ewerike’s memories of his younger sister’s abduction during the Biafran War, which he fought in as a child soldier. Fearing that his American-born daughter, Amara, 16, is at risk, he locks her in her room for weeks. Fidelis’s wife is powerless against her husband’s overprotectiveness, while their 14-year-old son, Chuk, assumes his sister is being punished. Their family becomes entangled with their neighbors the Kostyks after Mr. Kostyks, a Ukrainian dealing with his own PTSD from combat duty in the U.S.S.R., narrowly avoids striking Fidelis while driving drunk. His son, Maksym, teaches Chuk how to defend himself against bullies, and after Amara sneaks out of the house, she meets Maksym and falls in love with him. Though the families’ backgrounds in Nigeria and the Soviet Union are underdeveloped, Iromuanya succeeds at capturing the characters’ resilience, and their eventual growth feels earned. It’s a beautiful tale of new beginnings. Agent: Larissa Melo Pienkowski, Jill Grinberg Literary. (Feb.)