Narcissi: A Novel
by Babette Fraser Hale
Women’s Fiction / Texas Fiction
Publisher: Winedale Publishing
Publication Date: October 15, 2026
SYNOPSIS
Ten women fall for Cole Burnett, a traveling Texas writer. He is the kind of man whose need for freedom should send lovers running in the opposite direction. But he has a lanky charisma and the gift of listening, rare enough at any time. The women he encounters in Narcissi, a novel-in-stories, find his attention compelling, and they all get hurt, or cause hurt. But hurt is never the whole story.
Each woman brings her own complicated life into her time with Cole, conflicts with husbands, traumas survived, needs postponed, children. And children grow up with questions.
Burnett understands that loneliness compels him toward the women he meets. But none of them seems to reach where the loneliness resides, where whatever’s missing pushes him to keep moving, to find a purpose for his future. Later, after the death threat, traveling becomes a way to stay alive.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Babette Hale is the author of A Wall of Bright Dead Feathers, winner of the 2022 Troncoso Award for debut fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters, and a memoir, This Familiar Heart, about her relationship with her late husband, Leon Hale. In addition to writing fiction, she has been a magazine feature writer, columnist, book editor, publisher and part owner of a bookstore. She lives in Texas and is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters.
MY REVIEW
“Isn’t it funny how doing something you swore you’d never do gets easier the more you do it?”
Narcissi by Babette Fraser Hale is a gentle yet poignant glimpse into one man’s life and character, as well glimpse of the women who entered his life, his heart, and his bed.
While Cole Burnett has authored a few books, he mostly writes a newspaper column called Slow Travel. His research for his column takes him on frequent sojourns across the great state of Texas, where he meets many people and observes the aspects of slow living. Many of the women he meets are inexplicitly drawn to his charismatic charm, striking features, and willingness to listen. Apparently, Cole Burnett is irresistible.
What really stands out in this unusual story is the concept of a life lived both quickly and slowly at the same time. At the beginning, Cole is at the end of marriage number two, finding comfort and a safe place in the arms and home of another woman. While the reader follows Cole on his journey, both across Texas and with several women, understanding him completely is realistically out of the question. Can we really know everything about a person when we are constantly figuring out our own life? The women that float across the chapters are all important to Cole, and by the end of the story the reader is awarded another sideways glimpse of this man through his third wife’s grief and subsequent discoveries.
The author expertly ties so many facets of this story together throughout and at the end, leaving no stone unturned and no woman’s impact on Cole forgotten. While Cole may have some narcissist tendencies, just below the surface lies a psyche that is both complex and often misunderstood. Cole Bernette is an excellent protagonist, with his inability to resist a woman’s comfort and an unending desire to do the right thing. His heart, however, always appears to be as big as Texas, making him likeable and perhaps even relatable to many readers.
If you love a story that meanders throughout a protagonist’s adult life, leaving a definite imprint and provoking many thoughts and feelings, then Narcissi will be a great addition to your to-read list.
I received a free copy of this book from the Lone Start Literary Life Campaign in exchange for my honest review.
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