Our Souls At Night

"And then there was the day when Addie Moore made a call on Louis Waters.” So begins “Our Souls at Night,” Kent Haruf’s final contribution before his passing in 2014. Quiet and true as the rest of his work, this book tells of two lonely, older neighbors—a widow and a widower—as Addie asks Louis if he would like to come and sleep with her every night. In the small, familiar town of Holt, Colorado, this proposition sets the townspeople talking, with the strongest opinions coming from their children. As the two lonely neighbors find comfort and companionship in one another, Haruf shows the possibility of finding happiness even late in life. Written at the end of his own life, Haruf knew this would be his last book, giving the story certain weight and beauty. There’s something truly elegant in reading a work like this.