A rom-com with a message. Short stories. Garrison Keillor. Bison. We can’t get much more eclectic with today’s books offerings.

(Courtesy of Penguin Random House)
Ellie Palmer  (Morgan Lust / Penguin Random House)

“Four Weekends and a Funeral”: by Ellie Palmer (Putnam, $19)

But knowing no one else who’d had a preventative mastectomy, no one who’d cheated cancer, I felt utterly alone with the knot of guilt that took root beneath my silicone implants. The guilt that — after a second chance had been plopped in my lap — I was going to go back to being just plain me. I made it a point to be more. I started hiking, mountain climbing, water skiing, and anything else that looked adventurous. — from “Four Weekends and a Funeral”

Romance has evolved into a genre that is fun to read but also takes on tough questions. Twin Cities resident Ellie Palmer does it right in her debut rom-com with poignancy and heart. It is about how lies can hurt and how a woman navigates losing parts of her body to head off cancer.

Allison Mullaly is a 30-something transportation consultant who has undergone a preventative double mastectomy because she carries a cancer gene, as does her mother. After the surgery she felt she’d cheated death and wants to make more of her life. So, against her better judgment, she agrees to a hiking trip to Patagonia with her boyfriend, Sam. But before the trip can happen, Sam dumps her just before he dies. Nobody knows the relationship had ended, including Sam’s best friend, Adam, a grumpy woodworker who lives up north and rarely communicates with anyone.

When snarky, outspoken Allison attends Sam’s funeral, his parents introduce her as Sam’s girlfriend and before she can say anything she is surrounded by guests offering sympathy. Adam is in the same position as Sam’s best friend, even though they weren’t on the best of terms when Sam died. To lessen Sam’s parents’ grief, Allison and Adam agree to pretend they are girlfriend and best friend, at least until they can clean out Sam’s apartment. How will Allison spend four weekends cleaning and painting with a man who seems to hate her? The pair learn a lot about each other during those weekends and are falling in love. What girl who loves Thin Mints wouldn’t love a guy who keeps them in his freezer for her?

Palmer’s depiction of Allison’s relationship with her reconstructed breasts and how the mastectomy makes her feel will resonate with any woman, including those who have never faced cancer surgery. It’s her lack of nipples that seems to define the way she sees herself in the days following her mastectomy. She’s also contending with her mother, who feels guilty because she has the same gene, and she only wants to talk to her daughter about taking the next step to fend off cancer — hysterectomy. Sometimes Allison wishes they could talk about something besides her body.

In an interview with her publisher, Palmer explained what inspired her to write her novel:

“In 2020, I tested positive for the breast cancer genetic mutation (BRCA1) and found myself drawn to romance, not only for the wonderfully warm love stories, but also for their frank discussion of women’s pleasure, bodies, and — most notably for me — their breasts. I was preparing for a double mastectomy and facing a life without physical sensation or nipples. The more I read, the more I wished I could see a postmastectomy woman finding love and self-acceptance. ‘Four Weekends and a Funeral’ is the book I would have wanted to read while I was preparing for my surgery and hungry for honest and optimistic representation.”

Allison’s desire after surgery to become a new person who looked for adventure and the rigors of outdoor hiking and camping, even though that wasn’t who she was, is also drawn from the author’s own experiences.

Palmer recalled for her publisher how much time women spend in cancer clinics surrounded by images of women on mountaintops, women running marathons: “I was struck by the way I was being fed what seemed like the platonic ideal of survivorship while waiting to have my surgical drains examined. I’d just had a massive, life-altering surgery and wanted to do nothing else but lay in bed and watch ‘Love is Blind,’ yet I found myself wondering, ‘Should I be marathon raining?’ ”

Why set her story in the Twin Cities?

“To the degree that a rom-com relies on characters failing to say things they ought to say when they ought to say it — that’s really our whole brand! I’ve always loved media where the location feels like a character, and I wanted to introduce readers to the Twin Cities in the same way. I love the way the cities feel both metropolitan and like a small town. There is a strong sense of community here that I think lends itself perfectly to romance.”

Palmer will introduce her book at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 6, at Tropes & Trifles bookstore, 2709 E. 39th St., Mpls., in conversation with Naina Kumar and 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 7, at Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls., with Sam Tschida.

(Courtesy of University of Wisconsin Press)

“Camera Lake”: by Alex Pickett (University of Wisconsin Press, $17.95)

Judy suggested that we move, get a fresh start, even though it must have killed a part of her to move away from Philly, where all her friends and family lived, and where she had set up an established practice. I don’t think she exactly blamed me, though our situation was clearly a product of my shortcomings and affirmed beyond a doubt that I was not a gifted therapist. — from “Camera Lake”

Alex Pickett (Courtesy of University of Wisconsin Press)

In the title story of this collection from a Wisconsin-born writer living in London, a couple is sure someone is watching their home in the dark across the lake. The husband, who might be a little paranoid, wonders why the neighbor brings food to the couple on his snowmobile. In another poignant story a man has vowed to stay with his father for a while, even though the old man’s eating habits are disgusting and so is the place he lives in. The most compelling story is about a woman who has left her husband, moves into a vacant motel, and finds friendship with the new owner. Several of the stories are about men restless in their lives and looking for answers. Pickett will introduce his book at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 8, at Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls., in conversation with veteran rock critic Steven Hyden.

A few more for consideration

“Brisk Verse”: by Garrison Keillor (Prairie Home Productions, $21.95)

Keillor has left us for New York City, but he keeps writing. Subtitled “Healthful. Invigorating. Excellent for reading aloud to friends and associates of all ages and dispositions,”  this oversized paperback is made up of lighthearted verse that takes on the world with just about every topic. Sections include Sage, Green Paradise, Perils & Pitfalls, Geography and Last Words. In a foreword, Keillor recounts his relationship to poetry (not always a happy one), and acknowledges he is “in the second year as an octogenarian.” Delightful early 20th-century advertisements add zest. Here’s a little taste from Float Your Boat: “I think the world of you/You know I wish you well/Whatever tightens your screw/Whatever rings your bell/Whatever floats your boat/Whatever greases your pan/And if poetry makes you feel carefree/Here comes the poetry man.”

“Prairie Edge”: by Conor Kerr (University of Minnesota Press, $25.95)

How would you feel if you woke up one morning and saw a small herd of bison in Rice Park? That’s not likely to happen here, but it does in this involving novel by a Metis/Ukrainian writer living in Edmonton, Alberta. Cousins Ezzy Desjarlais and Gray Gunther are tired of Native people being exploited and, although Gray would be happy to stay in their trailer and play cards, Ezzy is burning to protest. She persuades laid-back Gray to help her move a small herd of bison from a park to downtown Edmonton. The plan doesn’t quite work, since the bison just calmly graze and the city people love them. This is a novel of historical trauma as the Native families recall the years when bison ran on the prairie as far as the eye could see until white colonizers destroyed them, leaving the people with a heritage of violence, dislocation, poverty and cultural shift. Ezzy is filled with energy and volatile; Gray goes along for the ride, until there’s an encounter at their trailer that changes things and Ezzy has to rethink how to protest injustice.

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