Fiftysomething mother and writer Rocky, the protagonist of Catherine Newman’s 2024 novel Sandwich and its new sequel, Wreck (out on Tuesday from HarperCollins), would likely laugh at my use of an ancient Gregorian chant to summarize her life philosophy. But in Sandwich and Wreck’s skillful fusing of the worst parts of life (infertility, wrongful death, chronic illness) with its sweetest bits (family life, friendship, and food), I couldn’t help thinking of the phrase: “In the midst of life we are in death.”

Newman’s novels stew in that truth—especially Wreck , which sees Rocky battle a mysterious skin condition while fretting over the details of one of her children’s peers’ sudden death—yet they manage to feel rollicking and wholly alive all the same. Watching Rocky alternately h

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