Body Language (publication day September 1, 2026) by Meg Howrey is her fifth book, and the first of hers that I’ve read. I’m a sucker for stories with three sisters, and this one hit a little close to home for me, though we’re not quite in the same place as this family.
Howrey uses several perspectives to tell the story of three adult sisters, Sloane, Laurel, and Nanette, all nearing or past midlife, and their mother Barbara, who has dementia. They live across the country: Sloane is a former actor, now therapist, living in California; Laurel lives in Connecticut with her husband and children, and works for an environmental nonprofit, and the youngest, Nanette, has joined an Episcopal religious order in Ohio and is on the way to becoming a full-fledged nun. Barbara is home in the suburbs of Indianapolis and is living with a friend who moved in after her own house burned down, and who seems to be holding things together for Barbara. When the friend has to leave on a trip to tend to her own family, all three sisters converge to take stock of the situation and figure out a solution for Barbara’s living situation.
They find out that things are worse than they thought, but they also find out that Barbara had a plan. After watching her mother and aunt deal with the long decline of Alzheimer’s, Barbara had procured pills that she could take herself to spare herself and her family the same pain. The problem is that she doesn’t know where they are, and her moments of lucidity are so few and far between that she’s not able to communicate her wishes to her daughters.
While the sisters–at least Sloane and Laurel–initially snipe at each other in their old patterns, they are able to come to peace with each other. Both realize that Nanette has probably always been on the autism spectrum and she has taken to life as a nun in ways neither could really imagine.
I really loved Howrey’s language and the characters–from crunchy, new-agey Sloane dealing with menopause in her own way, to brittle Laurel full of rage, and Nanette trying to manage her unique brain and desire for a connection with God. And Barbara, whose historical perspective we get in a few chapters, whose loss of a best friend early in life shaped the rest of it.
I’m going to consider it Mixed Anti-fat and Fat Positive because of discussion about how women’s bodies must be “marshaled and managed” and a historical storyline about a friend of Barbara’s had recently lost weight, was given a new wardrobe as a “reward” but was very angry about how people now treated her differently because she was slim. But this was a very small part of the storyline. Most of it was weight-neutral.
Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. I highly recommend for anyone with sisters or dealing with a parent with dementia, or if you like to read family dramas. This one is a gem.
Reading While Fat 