This is going to sound like one of the saddest book in the world – and it is sad, for sure – but I liked Ann Packer’s new novel, Some Bright Nowhere, which is about a 60-something couple dealing with terminal illness. Eliot and Claire, married for decades with grown children, are facing the final stages of Claire’s terminal cancer. Eliot has settled into the caretaking role, after years of Claire’s treatments, recession, recurrence and now decline. When Claire decides that she wants her two best female friends to move in and take care of her in her final months, and asks Eliot to move out of the house, he must decide whether he can honor her wishes. This will be a difficult (or perhaps therapeutic?) book for anyone who has watched a loved go through this wrenching process, so please be warned. It is very detailed and meticulous in its depiction of caretaking and end stage disease. But it’s also a beautiful book about agency, honesty and what it means to truly depend on someone else, along with the resentment, sacrifices, joys and heartbreaks of a long marriage. Some Bright Nowhere was just announced as the Oprah Book Club pick for November too.