From Sonia Chernoff, an elderly widow looking for closure, to Elaine, a therapist with a vengeance for her husband’s lover, Second Language is home to a charmingly eclectic collection of characters who share one thing in common: choices.
The humor, despair, and triumph of Wineberg’s characters find the reader alongside Lucy, who tries to deal with her mother’s illness while navigating her way through an adulterous affair. We also meet a doctor’s wife, Sofia, whose happenstance relationship with the doorman at their new apartment building imprints her life in ways she could never have imagined.
These characters face life-altering decisions, and when confronted with such adversity, they choose varying directions, ranging from forgiveness to revenge.