INVERNO, by Cynthia ZarinI once taught a seminar for graduate fiction writers called A Poet’s Prose. The reading list consisted of prose works written by distinguished contemporary poets. I was surprised to find that several students had registered for the course because they considered their own writing poetic. The elegance and incantatory power of Zarin’s prose, along with her virtuosity at observation, are undeniable, but, like many original works, “Inverno” resists easy description. Central to the novel is a love story, one that, like most love stories, is at once simple and terribly complicated.

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Persons: Cynthia Zarin, “, ”