Someday, Maybe by Onyi Nwabineli

This debut novel is gripping but also really heavy: It is entirely the story of a woman’s grief after her husband’s suicide, following her journey through myriad emotions and thoughts and challenges in the aftermath of his death.

Throughout the book I was immersed in Eve’s emotional state, and I empathized with all of her reactions and the stages (cycles) of grief she experienced. I adored her family and friends, was appalled by her mother-in-law, and grasped at the memories of her husband — each of them felt like real people, full of depth (as Eve observed and I truly believed, “lives are lived outside of mine and people are not mere characters in my story but are stories all their own”). I also appreciated that the focus stayed on Eve and her grief; despite her own consuming drive to understand her husband and his decision, the book never really became about him and his psychology, at least not separate from how Eve was processing it.

When I put down the book I felt like I’d travelled hand-in-hand with Eve, learning and experiencing so many things about her family, her culture, her beauty, and her strength in the face of a devastating loss.