The days of Wine and Covid

Even during the best of times, marriage can be a challenge. For Nan and Martin, this definitely is not the best of times. Trapped together while Covid rages, they do what they can to keep their sanity while keeping civil with each other. Nan holds her tongue when Martin sounds like a know-it-all, and Martin patiently waits out Nan’s stress-induced bouts of vertigo. They adopt a dog and give him a pandemic-inspired name—Divoc—that is as unsettling as it is funny. They doomwatch the news and find comfort in their shared political beliefs, so different from those of their next-door neighbor, Jerry. Clearly, Nan and Martin love and respect each other. But Nan has been keeping a secret, and when she finally tells Martin, their quarantine—and marriage—take a sudden and surprising turn.

Fans of Elizabeth Berg might recognize Nan and Martin from her bestselling novel The Pull of the Moon. In The Days of Wine and Covid, their marriage is thrown for a loop yet again, this time against the backdrop of a national crisis. Berg is unparalleled in her ability to capture the joys, sorrows, and comedy of everyday life, and to celebrate the relationships that bind us. With The Days of Wine and Covid, she reminds us that, despite our differences, we’re all in this together. It’s an optimistic and affirming capper to the challenging year that has been 2020.