Groundskeeping by Lee Cole

GROUNDSKEEPING by Lee Cole is a slow-moving story about a young man trying to find himself again. Kentucky born and bred Owen has started a landscaping job and is able to take a writing class for free at the local university. There, he meets an accomplished, but lonely visiting professor, Alma Hadzic, and they are attracted to each other: “We both laughed at this. I felt the competing desires, as I often did when meeting someone new, to know everything at once and to save it all for later. It was like the feeling one has reading a good book, the sensation of being propelled toward the end and at the same time wishing to linger.” Owen grapples with his rural, Southern roots, especially in contrast to Alma’s life as an immigrant from Bosnia who graduated from Princeton, but debut author Cole patiently describes their interactions and allows readers to appreciate the growth for both characters. GROUNDSKEEPING received starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus.