Body Language by Meg Howrey is a deeply thoughtful and surprisingly funny literary novel about three sisters forced to confront their mother’s wishes, their own differences, and the difficult question of what it means to honor someone’s autonomy when they can no longer make decisions for themselves. The novel releases September 1, 2026.
Body Language is a great literary novel—profound, evocative, and layered—but perhaps more importantly, it is a readable literary novel. There is a difference. Literary fiction can sometimes become so enamored with its own language and philosophical underpinnings that reading it begins to feel like work. Meg Howrey avoids that trap. Her prose is clear, concise, intelligent, and often very funny, while still giving the story the depth and complexity I want from a literary novel. In my opinion, clarity is one of the major requirements of a good novel, and Howrey demonstrates just how much can be accomplished without burying a story beneath unnecessarily elaborate language.
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