You’ve read them before: boy meets girl, boy and girl become friends, boy and girl resist their friendship developing into anything more, and so on. The stubborn love story, wherein the characters refuse to acknowledge and/or embrace their love for each other. Beyond the Night by Marlo Schalesky is on one level such a story, but it develops into so much more.

The book opens with a passage from a mysterious third party narrator. Seemingly vague and general, this passage remains confusing and meaningless until the surprise ending. We then enter into a scene with the married couple Paul and Maddie taking a trip on a rainy night. A tragic accident occurs, and in the next scene we enter a hospital room. Maddie is hospitalized and drifting in and out of consciousness while Paul patiently waits.

Unlike many love stories, we are already privy to knowledge of the culmination of their relationship. The knowledge of Paul and Maddie’s status as a married couple helps us to weather their indecision and struggles as they resist and wrestle with their attraction to each other throughout the relating of their love story. As Paul reaches out to her, seeking to bring her out of this state, we travel along with them as they both remember their journey to love.

Maddie and Paul meet each other in college during the ‘70s; Paul aiming for a career in medical research and Maddie setting her sights on the title of Doctor. They quickly develop a buddy-buddy relationship that develops the glimmer of maybe, possibly, something more. Then Maddie starts to go blind – not a great time to be starting a new relationship.

Maddie’s loss of vision plunges her into a time of emotional darkness that parallels her journey into visual darkness. The recollection of this descent into darkness is set into scenes of Maddie’s present – struggling against the darkness that seeks to overcome her in her hospital bed. Maddie’s slow loss of vision causes her to doubt God and His plans for her life. She draws into herself and away from friends – fiercely independent and frightened of dependence on others, she pushes those away who seek to help her, including Paul.