After June

Sixty-seven-year-old Ben Willows prefers the company of a dog to that of most people. So, now that his wife June, an exception in the people category with whom he's shared most of his life, has died, he assumes he'll live out his days keeping to himself and making the best of what a solitary life has to offer. But one day he encounters Rose, a young pregnant woman who works in a local grocery store. Something about her seems familiar, and as the days go by and events unfold, he discovers that he's been making some inaccurate assumptions about life as well as misjudgments about people, even June, about whom he thought he knew everything, for a very long time. And he begins to understand why making connections with others can often change our lives for the better; we only need to allow ourselves to be open to the possibilities. Book Club Discussion Questions included