Elaine has just lost her beloved husband, Joe, to a heart attack which she may have accidentally caused.

She should be devastated, maybe even a little guilty. And she would be if she could only stop thinking about Joe’s first wife, Jenny, who tragically died before Elaine and Joe ever met. And how Joe and Jenny are now both in heaven (or whatever the hell you believe in), together.

While planning his funeral, clearing his stuff, and consoling his friends and family, Elaine is utterly consumed with the fact that when Jenny died, Joe was the love of her life... So surely she’s looking him up if he comes to town?

Could Joe and Jenny get back together on the other side, and Elaine be merely a blip in their eternal true love story?

As ridiculous as she knows this sounds, Elaine can not get the idea out of her head. And while she simultaneously questions bullshit constructs like ‘the one’, ‘soul mates’ and ‘ever after’, she also launches a more personal investigation with the fervour of a woman who suspects her man is cheating. From snooping through his social media, to obsessively replaying past conversations in her head, interrogating his friends, revenge dating, seancing his grandma, and, finally, visiting his dead ex-wife’s grave to really have it out, Elaine is obsessed with finding an answer to a question she hasn’t full formed yet. Where has their love gone?

Fortunately for her, while she’s completely consumed by jealousy and paranoia, Elaine can avoid the pain that comes with processing grief, and, well,... reality. Unfortunately for her, Elaine can’t move on until she accepts the horrible, horribly sad thing that has happened.

Darkly hilarious, yet deeply affecting, Merely Beloved is a story about the only thing more devastating than death; love. 

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