Themes of companionship and loneliness in a novel

Today's episode finds two renowned authors who found solace in writing characters navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. First, NPR's Leila Fadel spoke with Sigrid Nunez about The Vulnerables, which follows a woman, a parrot, and a Gen Z college student unexpectedly taking care of another during lockdown in New York. Then, Michael Cunningham tells NPR's Scott Simon about Day, which chronicles three days — spread out over three years — in the life of a Brooklyn family, and how isolation and companionship changes them over that time.

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