The Baltimore author Anne Tyler’s newest novel, “Three Days in June,” just might be her Groundhog’s Day novel, in which Punxsutawney Phil emerges from his burrow to predict an early spring.

Uncharacteristically for the author, this book — the first that she has the Pulitzer Prize-winner has published in nearly three years — seems composed almost entirely of sunlight with barely a shadow in sight. Even the ending of “Three Days in June,” which will be published Tuesday, is unambiguously happy.

“I had a lot of fun writing it,” Tyler, 83, wrote in an email.

“It was one of those books that start from a random observation that’s intrigued me for years (the possibility that often, whom you choose to love has less to do with who that person is than with who YOU are when you’re with them), but then Gail took over, as characters do, and I had to laugh and give up the reins.”

“Three Days in June” tells the story of a 61-year-old school administrator who walks out of her job the day before her only child, Debbie, gets married. That same evening, Gail and her former husband, Max, learn a troubling secret about Debbie’s fiancé, Kenneth — and the discovery causes the amicably divorced couple to reexamine the circumstances that culminated in the end of their own marriage.

Frequent Tyler readers might detect in the character of Gail a higher-functioning version of the artist Jeremy Pauling, the protagonist of “Celestial Navigation,” a 1996 novel that some critics rank among Tyler’s finest.

Like Jeremy, Gail has difficulty processing emotion and as a result, struggles to connect to other human beings. Gail’s boss tells her that she “lacks people skills,” and she visibly struggles to place herself imaginatively in other people’s shoes, to empathize with the feelings of her supervisor when the other woman is diagnosed with a heart ailment.

But, unlike Jeremy, Gail is not reclusive. A former teacher who excelled at instructing students in remedial math, Gail might not always be adept at reading non-verbal cues, but she generally functions well in society.

But while Gail shares some characteristics with people who have Asperberger’s Syndrome, Tyler said she didn’t have a specific diagnosis in mind.

“As far as I know,” Tyler wrote, “she’s just a bit awkward.”

Like most of Tyler’s novels, “Three Days in June” is set in Baltimore, though the city asserts itself less as a character than it some of the author’s previous books.

To be sure, there are Maryland references. Readers learn that Debbie’s wedding takes place in Roland Park, and that it is paid for by Kenneth’s parents, who are described as being more well-heeled than Gail or Max. Gail’s ex-husband teaches in a school on the Eastern Shore, and he attempts to persuade Gail to consider moving there.

But the bulk of the action takes place at Gail’s house, which appears to be located in one of the modest Baltimore neighborhoods to which the author has frequently been drawn.

But which neighborhood?

“Three Days in June” takes place mostly indoors, and as a result lacks the meticulously observed descriptions of buildings and streets that in the past have tipped off knowledgeable Tyler fans that this particular story is set in Hamilton (“Clock Dance”) or Hampden (“French Braid”).

Finally, at 176 pages, “Three Days in June” is Tyler’s shortest book, and can easily be read in one evening.

Though most of the author’s previous novels have come in at somewhere between 250 and 350 pages, she has occasionally experimented with the more focused form of a novella, which tends to have fewer characters and subplots than it’s lengthier counterpart.

For example, Tyler’s 2021 novel, “Redhead by the Side of the Road,” has 192 pages, while “Earthly Possessions” from 1996 wraps up on page 197.

“I suppose I think of the book as a novel rather than a novella,” Tyler wrote, “but either term is fine with me. Its length was determined by the three-day time frame, which just seemed appropriate.”

“Three Days in June” might be a bit more unclouded than Tyler’s usual fare.

But at a time when Baltimoreans are struggling an unusually cold winter, during a week when meteorologists are calling for several days of freezing rain, sleet and snow, a forecast for three bright and warm days in June can feel like a welcome — and necessary — respite.

“And now I’d better set off on my morning walk if I want to beat the ‘wintry mix'” Tyler wrote as she signed off her email, “two words that fill me with dread.”

Anne Tyler’s “Three Days in June” will be published Tuesday by Knopf Doubleday. $24, 176 pages.

Have a news tip? Contact Mary Carole McCauley at mmccauley@baltsun.com and 410-332-6704.