Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney and Helen Oyeyemi write relationships in two starkly different but captivating ways: Review

Good Company by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney

Like a gun on the mantel in the first act, a "lost" wedding ring bodes trouble for the happy couples of Good Company. Or rather its reappearance leads Flora to realize that Julian, her husband of 20 years, may have been unfaithful, and that her best friend Margot knows more than she's let on.

So far, so domestic novel; but these are show folk — they all came up together in the New York theater world, and Margot is now the star of a glossy nighttime soap — and as the book delves into their long history, old and new dramas emerge. Company is less immediately grabby than Sweeney's great 2016 breakout The Nest. But her warmth and wit refresh a tale as old as time. B+ —Leah Greenblatt

Peaces by Helen Oyeyemi

Books are made to get lost in, but the maze of Helen Oyeyemi's brain seems to grow more complicated by the novel. No complaints here. The Gingerbread author returns with the enchanting Peaces, in which Otto and his partner Xavier — along with a pet mongoose — embark on a "non-honeymoon honeymoon" train trip.

If you know Oyeyemi, you know this ride will give Snowpiercer a run for its money in the weirdness department. And sure enough, the mostly vacant train, populated by a few odd passengers and some mystically tinged worlds, provides the setting for the most surprising, confounding, and oddly insightful couple's trip in recent literary history. A– —David Canfield

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