In 'The Chalk Artist,' A Plea For Real-World Connection

Allegra Goodman's characters tend to become obsessed with whatever belief systems they espouse, and for nearly 20 years, her novels have followed them into their cultural bubbles — whether it's the separatist Orthodox Judaism in a small Catskills community in thesecular faith in science in a tight-knit medical research laboratory in or the adrenaline-fueled, competitive Silicon Valley startup culturein In her sixth novel, Goodman, who holds a PhD. in English, finally gets around to her own faith in the power of literature and teaching. She pits the