Kent Haruf’s final novel Our Souls at Night, completed before he died in November last year, is a beautifully poignant swansong for this much-loved American writer.
Neighbours Addie Moore and Louis Waters, both widowed and
in their twilight years, have been alone for some time and Addie for one would like some companionship, someone to talk to at night, to
overcome the stifling loneliness and isolation of later life, and Louis agrees.
So the two begin a wonderfully pure friendship that gives them both something to treasure when they thought it was too late. Sharing their past and present, the future suddenly doesn’t look so daunting, but both of them know too that it can’t be taken for granted.
Tender and heartfelt, this is a delicately bittersweet novel, compounded by the very palpable sense Haruf seems to be aware that this is farewell. And what a beautiful farewell it is.
