Ethan Joella’s debut novel, A LITTLE HOPE, puts us right in the midst of a seemingly bucolic town where everybody seems to have everything one would need: money, fulfilling careers, lovely surroundings, happy families. However, in the course of a year, the changes that some characters find in their lives take them on unexpected and very personal adventures.

Freddie and Greg Tyler have a beautiful child, a beautiful home and a beautiful relationship. However, when Greg is caught in a battle with a pervasive form of cancer, the beauty of their life begins to diminish with astonishing velocity. Meanwhile, Greg’s understanding and caring boss, Alex, is undergoing life alterations that he keeps close to the vest, fearful of being found out. Darcy, a local widow, struggles with her grief and fears for her adult son, whose acting out and substance abuse issues promise to unravel what is left of their family. Past love haunts Ginger, and Ahmed fears that his search for true love will never end. All in all, the denizens of this pretty wooded town are going through some serious states of mind and body. Within a year, it is anyone’s guess who will still be standing as the clock ticks on.

"A LITTLE HOPE is a breath of fresh air in a world of TikTok books that use escalating plots to entertain their readers. Here we are being asked to sit in someone’s skin while they make the kind of decisions we make everyday."

Joella has an affinity for small-town life and doesn’t raise the local goings-on to symbols of anything other than what they are: struggles. He uses straightforward characterization and dialogue to explore the pulsing psychological conundrums of this cast of banal characters. It is their altogether basic qualities that lend the story its emotional foundation. The lessons we all must learn --- of tolerance, forgiveness and compassion --- transform these people as they would transform you and the members of your own family or community. It almost feels like a documentary in its lack of poetry; Joella’s direct writing style doesn’t leave room for soap opera drama. Instead, these are people. People who need people. It may not sound special, but that is precisely what makes A LITTLE HOPE a special book.

When one character later exclaims that she thinks she can always save someone, the stories all begin to intersect in the reader’s mind. Everyone is trying to save someone or something: a love, a memory, a life. The novel’s Connecticut suburb is populated with people who cook, clean, work and volunteer, but ultimately their voyage is a one-way ticket to surviving life in any way possible. There are no surprise moments, angry outbursts or insane plot twists. But Joella is so sure of his characters’ worthiness to exist that he makes sure he doesn’t clog the trajectory with unnecessary verbal or plot acrobatics. The novel reminds me very much of shows like “The Wonder Years,” “Family” and “Eight is Enough” --- where the small moments of life are the ones that make the biggest difference in the characters’ lives. No hyperbole, just real life.

A LITTLE HOPE is a breath of fresh air in a world of TikTok books that use escalating plots to entertain their readers. Here we are being asked to sit in someone’s skin while they make the kind of decisions we make everyday. It is that mirror experience that will make the citizens of Wharton as close to you as your own family and friends.