The Story of Arthur Truluv, by Elizabeth Berg, is filled with heart and compassion, a perfect escape from the news and politics of contentious contemporary life. It starts with the elderly Arthur who picnics at his recently departed wife’s grave (and those of others), having meaningful conversations. He is overheard one day by Maddy, a truant, detached teen whose mother died when she was born and who is living with a depressed, long-suffering father. Without becoming too saccharine, Berg has created characters who can teach us about forgiveness, kindness without ego and how we are all neighbors here.
