Don't let the name mislead you; Sorrowed Souls by Brenda Youngerman is not unrelentingly sorrowful.
Though each of the characters undergoes his or her own trial in life, this is primarily a book of hope.
The characters overcome their various sorrows because they know the value of friendship and family and learn to help one another.
The main character is Bryan Tines.
When we meet Bryan, he's working hard at his real estate development job.
Maybe too hard; he misses his own anniversary.
Workaholic Bryan quickly realizes the mistake he's made, but when he gets home, it's too late.
What happens to Bryan and to his family is a mystery that hangs over much of the novel.
The next time we see Bryan, he's out on the streets.
Homeless.
He doesn't know what to do or where to go; he doesn't even remember his own name.
He might not have survived if it weren't for the intervention of a tall, aging homeless man who goes by Gus.
Youngerman goes into great detail to describe the circumstances that brought Gus to the streets, though he was once a successful lawyer and came from a wealthy background.
We get to know Gus's life story as thoroughly as we do Bryan's and that of Bryan's wife, Amber.
The exploration of what might cause homelessness is interesting, especially in this economy in which many families have lost their homes.
That would be interesting enough to make this novel worth reading, but Sorrowed Souls is a richer and more complex than that.
It's also a relationship story about Bryan and Amber that breaks the relationship down to its most basic building blocks.
Few novelists are able to sustain a narrative this complicated while keeping the story compellingly readable.
Virginia Woolf is one of them; Brenda Youngerman is another.
Readers who pick up Sorrowed Souls will be richly rewarded.