BIG BERTHA AND LITTLE MAC

It seems fitting that mental fog meets actual fog in this charming novel about defying dementia in a secluded Nova Scotia village on the Atlantic Coast. Jim Lindsey’s BIG BERTHA AND LITTLE MAC concerns an older couple’s devotion to each other and to family despite their difficulties. The characters are endearingly quirky and so is the style of storytelling based on vignettes. Each tiny chapter is paired with one of the author’s photographs — sometimes enigmatic, often exquisitely colorful — symbolizing the point of its story and amplifying the novel’s palpable sense of place.