What happens when introverts age? If they've lost the person in their life who keeps them tethered to other people, they may find themselves retreating from the world, worrying about their aloneness but not knowing how to change it or in actuality having more than a passing desire to do so. In Joan Frank's novel, All the News I Need, a meditation on aging, on connection and relationship, and on the way that life can always deliver surprise and change, two characters look back at their past lives, wallow in their presents, and finally take a chance on the future.

Fran is a widow in her fifties. Painfully forthright and sometimes a little crass, Fran has maintained a friendship of sorts with her late husband Kirk's good friend Ollie. Ollie is a single gay man in his early sixties. He's a worrier, shy, introspective, and a little persnickety. The two of them are quite alone except for each other and as they approach aging, they vow to remain each other's human connection through their carefully laid out Rules for Aging. These two lonely people are set in their ways, shut off from the richness of life, plodding towards the quiet unremarked end until Fran decides that they should travel to Paris together, jolting both of them out of their routines. Easy travel partners they are not though, exploring Paris by revisiting the places Fran and Kirk once knew, each irritated and bothered by the other in ways that only travel can expose so clearly. For both Fran and Ollie, there is a deep sadness in the past, of those they loved and lost, and in the loss of the potential for what was.

The novel is very much a character driven one focused on two solitary people who spend much of the book alone together. Chapters alternate in perspective between Fran's and Ollie's musings on their own situation, the minor (and major) annoyances of the other person, and on their own grief and loss. The writing, especially in the beginning is almost staccato in style. This clipped, fragmentary style can contrast a little oddly with the long, descriptive passages fleshing out Ollie and Fran's characters but most often it makes the story feel very present. Fran and Ollie don't start out as the most likeable characters and their relationship, despite its long term, often feels dutiful, an obligation to their shared memory of Kirk. And the denouement of their Paris trip is not unexpected. But Frank does a wonderful thing for the reader, following Fran and Ollie into promise and happiness, moving them past the small, disheartening stagnation of the beginning of the novel. Slow to get into, the payoff in the end makes this a worthwhile read. ( )

All the News I Need by Joan Frank is the story of two friends by default who rail against aging and loss, and decide to take a trip to Paris together that instigates changes in their lives.

Oliver (Ollie) Gaffney is a 62 year-old gay man who lives in San Francisco. He is shy, lonely, awkward with others, and subject to panic attacks. Frances (Fran) Ferguson is a 58 year-old widow who lives in the wine country. She is foul-mouthed, sharp-tongued, hard-drinking, and also lonely since her husband Kirk passed away. Kirk was the connection between Ollie and Fran. Now they are both lonely. After all they have both been through, Fran regards Ollie as her brother now. "A dear, good, mad, exasperating, f***ed-up, insoluble brother."

They both have experienced the pain of loss and feel their age creeping up. Even though they both appreciate their set routines, they also feel like life might be passing them by and all they have left is a slow march toward death. Fran insists that the two take a trip together to Paris. She is sure it will be good for both of them. And, in an odd way, this is true.

Frank won the 2016 Juniper Prize for Fiction from the University of Massachusetts Press in this story that examines aging, friendship, loss, and regret. "Because of course she feels what he feels.... People their age natter along not copping to it but the awareness is billboarded all over their faces - a wavering, a hesitation, even those who used to crow and jab the air. The tablecloth of certainty, with all its sparkly settings, has been yanked, and not artfully. It's why people drink."

First I need to get this off my chest: I didn't like this novel at all for most of the book. Good grief, 58 and 62 aren't all that old anymore. If it is, then I guess I'm on the cusp of my dotage - not bloody likely. I sort of think, personally, that Ollie and Fran need to snap out of it and get a life. And the short, choppy sentences, especially at the first chapter, drove me bananas.

Then I hit Ollie's visit with Fran, and, while I still didn't care for either of these characters, I was at least wondering where this would go. But, when Frank introduced the rules for aging Ollie and Fran devised, I was amused and intrigued. I still didn't think either of them should remotely be thinking of themselves as having one foot in the grave and have all of their attention focused on aging. There is something to be said for living your life on your terms.

Frank had a arduous challenge to win over this reviewer, however, when I reached the end of the novel, I became a fan. The conclusion was brilliant. Is is so brilliant, it appeased my earlier displeasure. All the elements of the plot came together resulting in a sense of completeness. After pulling this off, I can say beyond a doubt that Frank is a brilliant writer. She managed to transcend the ordinary in the creation of two very different, realistic characters. I was surprised at how I tilted from strongly disliking All the News I Need to highly recommending it. This is one you have to read to the end.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from the University of Massachusetts Press for TLC. ( )