Emotional Arithmetic — Matt Cohen

Melanie is a mother and a lover, middle-aged, eccentric, courageous, and often hilariously unpredictable. She's also deeply scarred by her internment as a child in Drancy, a Nazi detention camp. Through the humanity and friendship of an English boy, Christopher Lewis, and her self-appointed protector, Jakob Bronski, Melanie managed to survive. Forty years later, Jakob, now a frail, well-known Soviet dissident, and Christopher, a writer who's never forgotten the young Melanie, reenter her life. Memories of the past, coupled with her husband's infidelity, upset Melanie's precarious emotional stability, forcing her to confront the absurdity of trying to balance good and evil, guilt and love, duty and desire. With its finely drawn characters, rich humanity, and rare wit, Emotional Arithmetic is a novel of memory and hope, offering an unforgettable look at how the shadows of the past illuminate the present.