Take What You Need

by Idra Novey

Literary Fiction

Family Drama

Contemporary

256 Pages

"Novey has written something quietly profound—Take What You Need explores estrangement and art with humor and heart, revealing the mystery of those we think we know best."

Synopsis

In her most powerful book yet, award-winning writer Idra Novey has conjured a novel of astonishing honesty with two determined, unforgettable female voices. Set in the Allegheny Mountains of Appalachia, Take What You Need tracks the aftermath of a long estrangement between stepmother and daughter. Leah is a web editor and young mother who sought an urban life and clean break from her rural childhood. But with her stepmother Jean's death, Leah must return to sort through what's been left behind. What Leah discovers is astonishing: Jean has filled the house with giant sculptures she's welded from scraps of the area's industrial history. There's also a young man now living in the house who played an unknown role in Jean's last years and in her art. With great verve and humor, Idra Novey zeroes in on the joys and difficulty of family, the ease with which we let distance mute conflict, and the power we can draw from creative pursuits. Passionate and resonant, Take What You Need explores the continuing mystery of the people we love most, and what can be built from what others have discarded—art, unexpected friendship, and a new contentment of self. This is Idra Novey at her very best.

Our Take

Idra Novey, whose previous novels Ways to Disappear and Those Who Knew established her as a bold, innovative voice, delivers her most emotionally resonant work with Take What You Need. The novel's genius lies in its dual structure—alternating between Leah's present-day return to Appalachia and Jean's voice from the past, gradually revealing the woman behind the sculptures and the estrangement. Novey writes beautifully about the specific textures of rural Pennsylvania, the legacy of industrial decline, and how people create meaning from what's been left behind. The sculptures themselves become powerful metaphors for transformation and the way art can redeem discarded materials—and discarded lives. What elevates the book beyond typical family reconciliation narratives is Novey's refusal of easy resolutions and her clear-eyed portrayal of how class, geography, and generational differences create unbridgeable distances even between people who love each other. The mysterious young man living in Jean's house adds unexpected complexity, representing connections that form outside traditional family structures. Novey's prose is spare but luminous, capturing both the harshness and surprising beauty of her setting. Readers who appreciated Ann Patchett's Tom Lake or Elizabeth Strout's explorations of family will find much to love here, as will fans of Bonnie Jo Campbell's Appalachian stories. For anyone interested in fiction about art, estrangement, and the secrets we keep from those closest to us, Take What You Need is a quietly powerful achievement.