Here’s a ‘novel’ bonus to eating well | Opinion

“Under autumn stars and Nabokov’s arabesques of light, she feels sauvage.” — Leesa Cross-Smith, from her novel “ Half-Blown Rose “

Oh, that turn of phrase.

I recently met Vincent, named after Van Gogh, and entered her world via her starring role in a novel. She’s in Paris, feeling sauvage, escaping another life and, well, I’m about 78 pages from knowing how it ends for her.

It’s a glorious feeling to be pulled into a story, one that I hadn’t realized I missed so much.

You see, at some point in my 50s, I almost completely stopped reading novels. The kind that transports you and makes you shush the people in the beach chair next to you when they want to chat. The kind that makes you ignore the ringing phone, and instead get up for another cup of coffee or a tall glass of iced tea before diving back into the pages.

It never occurred to me that I’d get that back by putting a stronger focus on my health. In these (post-?) pandemic times, so many are wrestling with weight gain, isolation, career decisions, relationship questions and overall spiritual/emotional revelations. When I hired a health coach in April, it was about having an ally and some accountability as I prepped for upcoming knee surgery.