Sometimes, I just stumble across a book that surprises me. I’d never heard of Josh Dygert, but his novella, Stella, is set in Indiana. It was short enough that I could read it this week after meeting my deadline. It’s poetic and atmospheric with the heat of Midwestern summers, and the stars in the skies of farm country.

Stella Callahan’s parents loved the night skies and the stars so much they named her Stella. Before she was old enough to remember, though, her mother disappeared into a starry night. All of the neighbors in Torrance, Indiana came together to search for her. Although her father was lost for a week, he pulled himself together and always told her to be kind to all the neighbors because they came together to search the corn fields and the entire area. But, her mother had disappeared.

The summer Stella was sixteen was perfect for a while. She spent it with her best friend, Bobby O’Malley, the boy from the neighboring farm. And, she had her father, and her Golden retriever, Mercury. The night of the meteor shower, Stella is home early enough to watch it with her father. She’s home early enough to chase the comet with him. But, when Stella’s father reaches the comet, and disappears, Stella knows the town will once again search for a missing Callahan. And, Stella herself is lost. She no longer wants to be called Stella. She can’t bear to stand on Callahan land. She still wants to be an astronomer, though, because Stella wants answers.

This isn’t a spoiler. The story of Stella’s parents is early in the novella, and it’s summarized on the back of the book. I promise you, though, that I haven’t told you about the answers. It’s a small book. If you can find it in your library or pick it up, the ending will surprise you. Dygert wraps up Stella’s story with the same poetry and compassion he puts in the rest of the novella. His sentences demand that you reread them. When Stella doesn’t want to eat after her father disappears, Mrs. O’Malley says, “The food won’t help, I know, but you’ve got to eat until time does.” Sometimes, I had to reread to absorb the words. Or, there’s Stella’s comment about “Internet articles about disappearances and mysteries under cosmic phenomena were only the half-crazed rantings of people like me. Sad people full of love and fear who had lost what the mind could not stand to lose.”

If you can find Stella; if you love poetry in your fiction, you might want to try this novella.

Josh Dygert’s website is www.joshdygert.com

Stella by Josh Dygert. LVP Publications, 2020. ISBN 9781645629825 (paperback), 81p.

FTC Full Disclosure – i received this as a gift.