GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES

Doug and Kayleen meet as eight-year-olds in the school infirmary. (He tried to ride his bike off the roof. She has a stomachache that her mother blames on “bad thoughts.”) Their lives intersect for the next three decades as they return to each other, alternately revealing and concealing their injuries — both physical and psychological — as they struggle with attraction, vulnerability,  and love. Pulitzer Prize finalist Rajiv Joseph creates a hilarious and heartbreaking love story that the Washington Post calls, “Mystical, arresting and quirkily amusing.”