Early Morning Riser

December 15, 2020
The author of Single, Carefree, Mellow (2015) and Standard Deviation (2017) brings us new characters to fall in love with in this novel about love, family, and community. It's easy to adore the characters Heiny conjures in her novels and short stories. They tend to be quirky and smart, caring and passionate. Jane, the protagonist of Heiny's gentle, funny new novel, is no exception. When we first meet her, the year is 2002, and she's 26. She has just moved to small-town Boyne City, Michigan, from Grand Rapids by way of Battle Creek, to teach second grade at the local elementary school. Almost immediately--in the first month she's in town and the first sentence of the novel--she meets and falls for Duncan, a handsome, divorced woodworker in his early 40s who moonlights as a locksmith (they meet when she locks herself out of her new house), looks to Jane "like the Brawny paper towel man," and, she later learns, not entirely to her surprise, has slept with pretty much every woman in the area. Both Jane, ever hopeful, and Duncan, ever appreciative, are pure charm (as are the book's secondary characters: their Northern Michigan neighbors, friends, and family members). She is a creative teacher and all-around blithe spirit who enthusiastically procures all her clothes and household items at the local thrift store. ("Some of her thrift-store outfits were more successful than others," we're told.) He's the kind of generous, easygoing guy who still shovels out the snowy driveway of his ex-wife, Aggie, as well as that of Jane; Jane's best friend, Freida; and, eventually, Jane's flinty mother. Duncan's sole employee is a sweet young man named Jimmy who was initially "described to Jane by more than one person as 'slow learning.' " After an accident for which Jane feels culpable, Jimmy becomes Jane's responsibility, too. Eventually, Jimmy will bring Jane and Duncan together in a new way. Told episodically in chapters titled by year and covering a span of 17 years, Heiny's book finds beauty and humor in connection and community, family and friendship, and the way love can develop and deepen over time. A heartwarming novel with a small-town vibe that sparkles like wine sipped with friends under backyard fairy lights.

COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from February 1, 2021

Jane is a gifted twentysomething secondgrade teacher, new to Boyne City, MI, in 2002, when she finds herself in need of a locksmith. Duncan, older, handsome, and easygoing, answers her call. And departs days later. Theirs is a passionate relationship with an overlay of unease on Jane's part owing to Duncan's matter-of-fact openness about having bedded nearly every woman in town. Still, Jane loves him; she is especially moved by his tender, respectful affection for his helper, sweet, intellectually challenged Jimmy, who lives with his mother. Also a constant in their lives is Duncan's ex-wife, Aggie, and her peculiar second husband, Gary. A tragic accident leaves Jimmy alone, throwing all these intertwined dynamics into disarray. The ragtag, reconstituted family spends the next dozen years somehow making a go of it with great forbearance and more than a little contagious hilarity. VERDICT Heiny brings back some familiar elements from 2017's Standard Deviation, as laugh-out-loud scenes seamlessly flow into deep consideration of what it means to be a family and the power of accepting one another, eccentricities and all. This irresistible delight is a much-needed balm during these unnerving times.--Beth Andersen, formerly with Ann Arbor Dist. Lib., MI

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2021
Heiny's (Standard Deviation, 2017) engrossing, tender novel follows the journey of one woman's relationships--romantic, familial, and unexpected--and regrets over the course of several years. Jane, 26, an elementary school teacher, meets Duncan, a woodworker, soon after moving to a small town in Michigan. After they quickly become involved, Jane eventually realizes that Duncan is regarded as a local Lothario, a complication intensified by Duncan's curious friendship with his ex-wife, Aggie, and his intention to never marry again. Then there's Duncan's very close relationship with his coworker, Jimmy. Years later, Jane's life path is forever altered by a tragic accident for which she feels responsible, leaving her struggling to reconcile her guilt with her hopes and desires for the future while maintaining her long-held, if often challenging connection with Duncan. Accompanying Jane's wavering inner journey is an exploration of her various involvements, whether intended or not, with all kinds of colorful individuals in her town and the surrounding area. With sharply drawn portraits and acerbic wit, Heiny captures emotions, bonds, revelations, and heartbreak in this tale of unconventional interactions.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.