The Furrows by Namwali Sewell

This is a much lauded book, both one of the New York Times Best Fiction novels as well as landing on two lists that I read top to bottom. It is about what happens when a sibling is lost forever and how that feels for those that remain. This is a lived story for me, having a brother who died when I was ten and then growing up in a house where that was never really grappled with. So I get it. Here is how it all begins. When Cassandra Williams is twelve and her little brother Wayne they spend a lot of time alone. This was permitted. One day, when they're alone together, there's an accident in the ocean and Wayne is lost forever. Though his body is never recovered, their mother can't stop searching. Missing but presumed dead--the uncertainty of it is what they cling to, and it impairs their ability to move forward. As Cassandra grows older, she retells her story, and she sees her brother everywhere: in cafes, airplane aisles, subway cars. But it can't be, of course. Or can it? And then one day, there's another accident, and she meets a man both mysterious and familiar, a man who's also searching for someone, as well as his own place in the world. His name is Wayne.