Ben Aitken's non-fiction account, Marmalade Diaries, begins when 34 year old Ben rents a room from an 85 year old widow, Winnie Carter, in London, England. Ten days later England enters lockdown from Covid and Ben and Winnie are together far more than either planned. 

The Lowering Days by Gregory Brown takes on past conflicts with a contemporary narrative. After a paper mill is burned to the ground in the Penobscot Valley, the original land of the Penobscot tribe, a debate within the town ensues to resolve the mystery after a local reporter receives a letter with no name admitting to the crime. The mill had two meanings for two different types of people which Brown encaptures within the characters.

The Ride of Her Life by Elizabeth Letts is a quintessential underdog story and my feel-good pick of 2022. In 1954, Maine farmer Annie Wilkins, along with her little dog, and her horse, embarked on a cross-country journey to see the Pacific Ocean. She had no money. She had lost her farm. She had never been outside of the state of Maine. A doctor had given her two years to live. She was sixty-three years old.