A Selfish Woman — Christopher Brookhouse

The waters are roiled in a small New England college when a part-time professor takes up with her teaching assistant. In succinct, often somberly beautiful language, Brookhouse (Running Out, etc.) writes about a breast cancer survivor, Caroline, and her yearlong relationship with Gabe, a much younger man. Caroline, an adjunct English professor at a small college, has just recovered from a mastectomy when Gabe is assigned to be her assistant.