All the Children Are Home by Patry Francis

All The Children Are Home by Patry Francis

Published by Harper Perennial ISBN 9780063045446

Trade paperback, $16.99, 384 pages

Sometimes you finish a book that touches your heart so that when you finish it, you want to immediately turn to the first page and begin reading it all over again; Patry Francis' novel, All The Children Are Home, is such a book.

Set in 1959 in a small town near Boston, Dahlia and her husband Louie Moscatelli have a home with three foster children- teenagers Jimmy and Zaidie, and Zaidie's younger brother Jon. They have a tightknit family. One day a social worker asks them to take in a eight year-old girl named Agnes on an temporary emergency placement.

Dahlia and Louie have agreed "no more emergencies", but Dahlia relents and accepts Agnes. Agnes is very small for her age, she suffered from a failure to thrive as an infant, and has come from a bad placement. One of the saddest things in her story is that she only learned her colors from the Jello she ate in the hospital.

Agnes is part Native American, and her previous foster father treated her cruelly because of that. When she arrived at Dahlia and Louie's, the other children were immediately protective of Agnes. Being allowed to eat at the table with the family was new to her, and the other children teach her everything she needs to know. Zaidie gives Agnes her shamrock barrettes, and Jimmy teaches her how to play baseball.

Dahlia is an agoraphobic, spending her days doing puzzles, watching soap operas, and reading Reader's Digest condensed books from the library. Louie works long hours as a mechanic, and although he is gruff, he is kind to the children, slipping them money to get candy at the store. Agnes says that Dahlia is "a shadow- always present, but less real than everything around her." We eventually discover the reason behind that.

The neighbors don't like the Moscatellis, frequently complaining about the children. Some of the kids at school are cruel to them as well, and Jimmy seems to suffer more than the others as he grows older. Zaidie is smart and organized, she has goals in life, even taping photos of her heroes- Eleanor Roosevelt among them- on her wall for inspiration.

All The Children Are Home is about what it means to be a family. This family is not perfect in the eyes of the world, but they are to each other. They face many challenges as the children grow older, and how this family loves and supports each other in the face of disdain from neighbors and harassment from schoolmates is heartwarming, heartbreaking and hopeful. I read this book in one day and I will be recommending it to everyone. With unforgettable characters, it is simply one of the best books I have read in a long time.

My review of Patry Francis' previous novel, The Orphans of Race Point,  is here.

Best Behavior by Wendy Francis

Best Behavior by Wendy Francis
Published by Graydon House ISBN 9781525804625
Trade paperback, $17.99, 336 pages

Five years ago I read Wendy Francis' Summer of Good Intentions, about three sisters dealing with the death of their father, and loved it so much that it made my list of the Most Compelling Books of 2015. (My review here)

So I was happy to hear that she has a new book out this week, Best Behavior. Set over a long college graduation weekend, Meredith has to deal with preparing to be an empty nester as her twins, Dawn and Cody, are graduating from her alma mater, Bolton College in Boston.

Meredith is a NICU nurse married to her second husband Joel, a high school guidance counselor. Joel couldn't be more different from her first husband Roger, a highly sucessful Boston lawyer who cheated on his wife and left Meredith when the children were youngsters. Joel is steady, kind and a wonderful stepfather.

Roger is remarried  to Lily, a gorgeous Instagram enhancer (not be confused with an influencer) not much older than his children. They live in a huge oceanside mansion where the kids' graduation party is being held.

Change is hard for Meredith. She is sad that this part of her life is over, and her children are setting out on their own lives now. Dawn will be moving to Chicago with her boyfriend, working at a marketing job. Cody is going to North Dakota to teach at a Native American high school.

Dawn feels deeply, is stubborn and was a ballerina until high school. She and her mother had the typical mother/daughter stresses in high school , even moving in with her father in Boston for a year, which upset Meredith greatly.

Cody is the golden boy. He is rock solid, smart, and a football hero. She never had to worry about Cody, although something is bubbling up about him over this graduation weekend that could possibly spoil the celebration.

Trying to be on her best behavior, Meredith decides that she will be as graceful as Jackie Onassis this weekend. She is tested when Roger shows up uninvited to a pre-graduation dinner hosted by the college. Following the ceremony, Roger hosts a graduation at his second wife's favorite restaurant and much to Meredith's chagrin, Lily is there too.

The story culminates at the graduation party where things all come to a head. Can Meredith remain on her best behavior? Anyone who has had to deal with exes, and manuever family gatherings with gritted teeth, will recognize the issues that Meredith must face.

I enjoyed finding a new slang word here- "dosey", which means a person someone can take in small doses. I have a feeling I will be using this word in the future.

Best Behavior took me back to the days of my sons' college graduations and the mixed emotions that I felt. It's a time of reflection, pride, joy and wistfulness. Wendy Francis excels at writing about families at the turning points of life, and she makes you feel a less lonely as you relate to her characters. I recommend Best Behavior.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Summer Reads Blog Tour.

The Sweeney Sisters by Lian Doan

The Sweeney Sisters by Lian Dolan
Published by William Morrow ISBN 9780062909046
Hardcover, $27.99, 304 pages

I love a good sister story and Lian Dolan's The Sweeney Sisters is a great sister story. When Bill Sweeney, a giant of the literary world, passes away, his three daughters- Eliza, Maggie and Tricia- reunite in their postcard perfect hometown of Southport, Connecticut to plan his funeral.

Liza lives in Southport and owns a successful art gallery. "She had been raised well and married better", wife to the successful Whit and mom to two teenagers. She is efficient and organized, and her home is a showplace where everyone gathers for a Thanksgiving, with each course timed to perfection.

Maggie is the second born, known as 'Mad Maggie' in her younger days. A freespirit, she is an accomplished artist whose paintings sell well in Liza's gallery. She has dated and lived with many men, including a Hollywood director who treated her badly. Maggie "excelled at emotional intelligence, " she was "the glue that held the whole family together".

Tricia "emerged from the womb ready to conquer the world, setting and achieving goals with astonishing success." Her resume includes Yale Law School, marathon runner and hardcharging corporate lawyer in NYC.

The girls lost their beloved mother Maeve to breast cancer when they were teens, and now they were orphans. When their father's best friend and trusted lawyer Cap tells the sisters that there is not much left in the estate and that they need to sell the family home and find their father's last work, a memoir that he had already received an large advance for, they band together.

At the sendoff party for their party, they see an unfamiliar woman in the crowd. Serena is a Washington journalist who grew up in their neighborhood, although she is a few years older than the Sweeney Sisters. She is there because she ran a DNA ancestor test and discovered that she is also a daughter of Bill Sweeney.

What does Serena want? Is she after any family money, a good news story, or both? Did Bill know he had another daughter?

The Sweeney Sisters is a gem of a novel. It's got humor and warmth, and I laughed out loud several times, something that is sorely needed these days. The sisterly dynamics feel very real, and if you have sisters or wish you had sisters, this is a book that will touch your heart and bring you joy. I absolutely adore The Sweeney Sisters and give it my highest recommendation.

Thanks to William Morrow for providing a review copy.

Many Hands Make Light Work by Cheryl Stritzel McCarthy

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

Many Hands Make Light Work by Cheryl Stritzel
Published by She Writes Press ISBN 9781631526282
Trade paperback, $16.95, 289 pages

After seeing all the news coverage of events from 1969, like Woodstock and the Apollo 11 moon landing, one can't help but be nostalgic for that time, and that makes it the perfect time to read Cheryl Stritzel's family memoir Many Hands Make Light Work.

Stritzel came of age in Iowa in the 1960s and 1970s, one of nine children born to Joe, an agronomy professor at the University of Iowa, and his wife Marcella. Joe saw that as more young people were going to college, more housing was needed. So they bought up several homes in the neighborhood and turned them onto student housing.

Joe and Marcella grew up during the Depression and their mentality was to do for themsleves. Therefore, the children all pitched in and helped rehab the homes. The youngest children, dubbed "the Littles" pulled nails and stacked wood, the older kids tore up carpets and tore down wallpaper. (One old house had 22 layers of wallpaper!) In the winter, they got up early and shoveled all the sidewalks of the homes before heading off to school.

Having nine children meant being thrifty. They had a commercial milk dispenser installed in their kitchen and bought milk in five-gallon metal cans. They grew green beans, green peppers, and varieties of lettuces in the garden of one home, huge plots of tomatoes in another home, and an entire yard was filled with sweet corn.

They had peach, pear, plum and apple trees. One the more memorable scenes was of the children undergoing preparation to pick the cherries from the fifteen foot Montmorence cherry trees that dominated their yard.

First Mom made plates of pancakes, topped with butter and honey (from their own hives of course), and a single slice of bacon. (The children grew up never realizing that you could have more than one slice of bacon for breakfast.) Then the Baseball team, as Dad called them, donned their equipment-  each had an old metal coffee can with a piece of twine at the top that allowed for the can to hang off their waist so they could use two hands to pick more efficiently. Singing "Oh, What A Beautiful Morning" from Oklahoma meant that work could begin.

Many Hands Make Light Work is such a delightful, warm-hearted book. The memories (eating Spudnuts donuts after church, Greg sitting at "the Toast Seat" during breakfast, stopping at the A&W restaurant for 11 root beers to go along with the packed sandwiches during a rare family vacation) will bring to mind your own family memories.

The craziest story involved Cheryl babysitting for a family. It should be an easy job- the only child, a baby, would be asleep, and Cheryl could watch TV and do her homework. But as the parents were leaving, they handed her a flyswatter and told her that if the lion acted up, just tap him on the nose. Yes, they had a lion. Not a baby lion, one that was more like a teenager. He slept in the chair in the living room, where Cheryl was to be. That scene was straight up nerve-wracking, but as I was reading it, I thought to myself, yeah, that kind of stuff happened back then.

I can't recommend Many Hands Make Light Work more highly. It brought me joy, made me laugh ,and and made me feel grateful for growing up in my own big Catholic family. If you grew up watching The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family, this is for you. I loved reading all about the Stritzels, and if you long for a good family story, pick up this book now. It's one of my favorite books of the year.

Thanks to She Writes Press for providing me a copy of this wonderful book for an honest review.

June Books From Book Expo

I spent some time organizing my books from the Book Expo, and this year I organized them by the month they publish. It's going to make it so much easier to read the books as they publish so I can keep current with my reviews.

The June books  are all about family, and I've read three of them so far.

Mary Beth Keane's third novel, Ask Again, Yes is one of my favorite books of the year. Keane writes so beautifully in her story of two Irish families who live next door to each other. A tragedy tears them apart and years later it still reverberates through the families. My full review is here, but suffice to say, you must read this book.

Jean Kwok's book Searching for Sylvie Lee is also a family drama and wonderfully written as well. Sylvie Lee leaves her home in NYC to go to the Netherlands to visit her dying grandmother. When she disappears, her younger sister Amy goes to the Netherlands to find out what happened. Family secrets are revealed, and the story is told from Sylvie, Amy, and their Chinese immigrant mother's point of view. Jenna Bush Hager chose it as her Today Show June Book Club pick, and Jean will be on Today with Hoda and Jenna on Friday, June 28th.

Jennifer Weiner's Mrs. Everything tells the story of two sisters' lives, from their childhood in the 1950s through the current day. It's really the story of women in America through those years and it's her best book yet, I just inhaled it. It debuted at number two on the NY Times bestseller list last week.

I'm starting Elin Hilderbrand's Summer of '69, which I have heard great things about. It's her first novel set in a different time period and it's about the Levin family and what happens to them during that historic year.  She signed books at the Book Expo, and gave out Corona beers. I wish I liked beer, it looked refreshing.

Grant Ginder's Honestly, We Meant Well is a family story about a Classics professor who finds that her perfect husband is cheating on her and her college-bound son's life is a mess. She takes them to Greece for a month to fix things and it sounds like a good summer read, funny and heartfelt.

Claire Lombardo's novel, The Most Fun We Ever Had follows Marilyn and David and their four adult daughters. One of the daughters gave birth to a son and gave him up for a closed adoption fifteen years ago, but he reappears in their life. Lombardo is being compared to Celeste Ng and Elizabeth Strout, high praise indeed.

Eloisa James' fourth novel in her Wildes of Lindow Castle series is Say No to the Duke, and it continues the story of the Wilde family, with this story focusing on young Lady Betsy Wilde who loses a billiards game and bet to Lord James Roden and now must spend the night with him. I really enjoyed the first three books in the series, the first historical romances I have read in a long time, and I'm looking forward to this one as well.

New in Paperback- Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova

Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova
Published by Gallery Books ISBN 9781476717791
Trade paperback, $16, 368 pages

Reprinted from auburnpub.com

Author Lisa Genova’s debut novel, “Still Alice” described the devastating effects of early onset Alzheimer’s Disease on the lives of a Harvard professor and her family. It is an emotional, heartbreaking book, and the movie version won an Oscar for Best Actress for Julienne Moore for her brilliant performance last year. 

Genova followed up her success with two other novels- “Left Neglected” about a stressed mom who suffers a traumatic brain injury, and “Love Anthony” about a young boy with autism. Genova excels at putting the reader square in the shoes of people who have to live with a tragic health issue, getting us to feel their pain and be amazed at their strength and resolve.

Her latest novel, “Inside the O’Briens”, tackles a deadly disease that many people have never heard of- Huntington’s Disease. Huntington’s is a neurodegenerative disease that causes a person to lose control of movements, speech, and eventually the ability to eat. There is no cure or treatment for it.

One of the most devastating aspects of Huntington’s is that the children of a person with Huntington’s each have a 50% chance of contracting the disease as well. That means that entire families have been destroyed by Huntington’s, and the decision about finding out whether one has the Huntington’s gene is uppermost in the mind of anyone with the disease in their family.

Genova introduces us to the Irish Catholic O’Brien family. Patriarch Joe is a 44 year-old proud Boston city cop. He and his wife Rosie own a large three story home and have four adult children- son JJ and his wife Colleen live on the second floor, daughters Katie and Meghan share the third floor apartment, and son Patrick lives with Joe and Rosie on the first floor.

JJ is a fireman, Meghan is studying to be a professional ballerina, Katie is a yoga instructor and Patrick is a troubled bartender who drinks too much. They are a close family, some would say a little too close and too involved in each other’s lives.

Joe lost his mother as a young child, he was told she died due to alcoholism. The truth was that she had Huntington’s Disease, and when he starts to exhibit symptoms that he can no longer ignore, he sees a neurologist who gives him the bad news. 

Joe and Rosie are stunned by the diagnosis, and when they find that their children each have a 50% chance of having the Huntington’s gene, it is almost too much for them to bear. Joe feels guilty for bringing this on his family, and Rosie is afraid she will have to watch her entire family die a horrible, painful death. She even begins to question her strong religious beliefs.

Genova drops us into the O’Brien’s lives, and we watch as each of the children must struggle with the decision to get tested for the gene. If they have the gene, they will eventually get Huntington’s, typically within ten years, and they will die from it. 

You can’t help wondering as you read this, what would I do? Do I live my life not knowing, just going on as usual? Or, do I get the test and go from there? If I’m married, do I have children, knowing that if I do have it, they could get it too? 

Telling this story through the O’Brien family, and that proud, strong Joe is the one who will die from it, is a powerful choice. Joe has always been the strong family leader, and now he will need someone to care for him. Watching him come to terms with his new life is emotional.

The story is told from Joe and daughter Katie’s points of view, and we watch as young Katie must struggle with a decision to get tested or not. She has a new relationship with a great guy, and she must decide whether to pursue it and go for happiness or live with doubt.

We watch Joe work to stay as healthy as he can, becoming increasingly frustrated with his new limitations and his role in the family. This is a loving, close family, and many readers will understand the family dynamics here, especially the sibling relationships.

“Inside the O’Briens” is, like “Still Alice”, an emotional ride of a book, and just like real life, there aren’t always clearcut answers.

rating A

The Orphans of Race Point by Patry Francis

The Orphans of Race Point by Patry Francis
Published by Harper Perennial ISBN 978-0-06-228130-2
Trade paperback, $15.99, 544 pages

Almost exactly a year ago, I read an early copy of Anthony Marra's The Constellation of Vital Phenomena and was so knocked out by it, I told anyone who would listen (and even some who wouldn't) to read this book. I was so thrilled when it began to get great buzz and win many awards.

Reading Patry Francis' The Orphans of Race Point made me feel the same way. From the very first page, I fell in love with the story and the writing and the characters. Reading it, I was lost in the pages, and when people spoke to me, I did not hear them. I wanted to race through it, yet at the same time savor this incredible story and not have it ever end.

It begins in 1978, with nine-year-old Hallie Costa, whose mother died tragically in a drunk driving accident and whose father is the town's beloved doctor, willing to help anyone in anyway he can, whether medically or assisting them with a family situation.

Her father is called to a neighbor's home where a woman was murdered by her husband and their nine-year-old son Gus had been found catatonic in a closet. It was thought he witnessed the murder of his mother, but he was too traumatized to talk.

Hallie's dad Nick went to visit Gus, and after a five hour staring contest in which Nick "looked into Gus' sorrows and he looked into" Nick's, Gus spoke his first words in weeks- "I give." Hallie and her friend Neil, who was Gus' best friend, visited Gus every day, and Hallie came up with the idea of reading David Copperfield to him. She thought the story of an orphan who mades good might inspire Gus.

By the time they are in high school, Gus has become a football hero. He and Neil are still best friends, and Gus and Hallie have fallen in love. An incident happens at a beach party, and Gus' turbulent past plays a part in it, changing the three friends' lives forever.

Fast forward and Gus has become a priest, Neil is an actor and Hallie is a doctor like her dad. Father Gus is approached by a woman who has been beaten by her husband and asks for his help. Father Gus advises her to get away from her husband and offers to help her, but the situation escalates and Gus is convicted of a murder he did not commit.

This amazing story has so many compelling elements to it- there is the murder mystery, the love story and the true meaning of faith, friendship and family. The way it deals with faith and family also reminded me of Jennifer Haigh's gorgeous Faith, with its story of a priest mistakenly accused of a crime. The family that Hallie creates with people who are literal and figurative orphans is a beautiful one, and shows us that you don't need to be related to truly love someone deeply.

Like Constellation, Francis weaves her story elements together to a surprising conclusion. I did not see it coming in any way, and was as blindsided just as much as the characters were. The writing is lovely and the characters Francis creates are so real, I wanted to reach out to these lost souls. I don't know who I could call my favorite- Hallie _"dutiful on her dad's side, unruly on her mom's side", Gus, who cared deeply for his flock and yet led a tortured life, or "misfit princess" Mila, the murdered woman's daughter.

There are too many powerful scenes to choose a favorite- Hallie reading to young Gus, Mila visiting Gus in prison, Hallie ministering to her ill father, Nick's talk with Gus at the cottage- they all just touched my heart in a profoundly unforgettable way.

The Orphans of Race Point is the must-read book this year. It is big- over 500 pages- but you will find yourself lost in the lives of these loving, sometimes tragic, people. If you happen to see me anywhere, I warn you, I will tell you- READ THIS BOOK.

rating 5 of 5
My review of A Constellation of Vital Phenomena is here.
My review of Faith is here.
Patry Francis' website is here.

Thanks to TLC Tours for putting me on Patry Francis' tour. The rest of the tour is here.

Tuesday, May 6th: The Book Wheel

Wednesday, May 7th: Tutu’s Two Cents

Thursday, May 8th: bookchickdi

Friday, May 9th: Sweet Southern Home

Monday, May 12th: Book-alicious Mama

Wednesday, May 14th: 5 Minutes For Books

Tuesday, May 20th: All Things Girl

Wednesday, May 21st: Doing Dewey

Thursday, May 22nd: BoundbyWords

Tuesday, May 27th: My Book Retreat

The Moon Sisters by Therese Walsh

The Moon Sisters by Therese Walsh

Published by Crown Publishing ISBN 978-0-307-46160-5

Hardcover, $25, 320 pages

Olivia and Jazz are adult sisters, still living at home with their parents. One day, Olivia comes home to find that her mother is dead. The question that will haunt the sisters is whether their mother died accidentally or whether she committed suicide. The gas on the stove was on, the pilot light out, the windows and doors closed.

Their father is lost in his grief, unable to help his daughters through theirs. Their father's mother, Babka, owns a bakery, where their dad works. Olivia has synesthesia, which is defined as "the stimulation of a sense other than the one receiving input; sensory areas with faulty wiring." She could smell sights- "Papa was fresh grass, the sun was Mama"-, and taste words- Mama's freckles "tasted like togetherness".  She could see sounds- "Babka's voice looked like a tumble of soft flour."

Olivia feels guilty that her mother died while she was off with a young man. Olivia had been home schooled by her mother, and they spent much of their time together. She felt like she should have seen that her mother was depressed.

And so Olivia gets it into her head that she should take her mother's ashes and scatter them in a bog where her mother had set a novel she was working on at the time of her death. The truth was, her mother had been working on this book for a very long time, but never made much progress.

As Olivia was legally blind (she looked into the sun too long and it blinded her), she couldn't drive to the bog to scatter the ashes. Jazz, who was set to start a new job at the funeral home where her mother had her services, felt forced to follow Olivia and take her to the bog.

Their car breaks down, and Olivia ends up with a group of train hoppers on a train, not knowing that Jazz has also hopped the train looking for her. Olivia falls for one of the hoppers, Hobbs, a mysterious man with markings all over his face and another man on his tail.

There are magical elements to this story, and some ghost stories, which I did not know are ubiquitous in West Virginia, where the story takes place. Along with the questions surrounding Mama's death, we have the mystery of why Hobbs is being followed by Red, a man who appears to be a bounty hunter.

The story is told alternately by Olivia and Jazz, and interspersed in the story are letters written by Mama to her father, a man who disowned his daughter and cut off all contact with her. Her letters are heartbreaking, and we get to know Beth (Mama) through these letters, as well as through Olivia and Jazz.

The sisterly relationship is the heart of the book, and Walsh really nails it. The sibling rivalry, the way they fight with and protect each other and argue and love each other will feel so real to anyone who has a sister. 

The writing is poetic, and I loved what Babka told Olivia when Olivia told her about a dream she had- "Dreams like feet better than knees". What a fantastic thing to say, and it comes up more than once in this magical, haunting novel.

Another line I liked was said about Hobbs by one of the female train hoppers- "Too bad his walls are so high up, and I'm such a lazy climber." You get the character of Hobbs right away from just that one line.  

But what Mama said really puts the point on this book: "All of life's twist and turns might be analyzed at some later date, shown to be necessary in order to arrive at some other point in the future- a point that would end up being important in a life." She believed that fate would put you wherever you needed to be.

There are some real twist and turns in the story that will knock the breath out you as you read them, and I did not see one big one coming that just made me sob. Walsh puts you through the ringer and it is an emotional ride well worth taking.

rating 4 of 5

Thanks to TLC Tours for putting me on this book tour. The rest of Therese Walsh's stops are here:

Therese Walsh’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, March 3rd:  Lit and Life

Tuesday, March 4th:  Beth Fish Reads – “Today’s Read” guest post

Tuesday, March 4th:  Book Club Classics!

Wednesday, March 5th:  Book-a-licious Mama

Thursday, March 6th:  girlichef

Friday, March 7th:  Books in the Burbs

Monday, March 10th:  Bookchickdi

Tuesday, March 11th:  Traveling with T

Wednesday, March 12th:  Patricia’s Wisdom

Thursday, March 13th:  Book Snob

Friday, March 14th:  The Book Barn

Tuesday, March 18th:  Fiction Addict

Tuesday, March 18th:  5 Minutes for Books

Wednesday, March 19th:  Time 2 Read

Thursday, March 20th:  Bibliotica

Monday, March 24th:  Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Wednesday, March 26th:  A Novel Review

Thursday, March 27th:  A Bookish Affair

Tuesday, April 1st:  Suko’s Notebook

Wednesday, April 2nd:  A Reader of Fictions

Tuesday, April 8th:  Books a la Mode

Therese Walsh's website is here.

THE LIE by O.H. Bennett

A teenager in trouble will often find it easier to lie when confronted with a bad situation. When Terrell Matheus accidentally shoots and kills his older brother Lawrence, his instinct is to lie. He tells his parents and the police that a truck with white boys accosted Lawrence on the front porch of their home and shot and killed him.

So begins The Lie, the powerful debut novel by O.H. Bennett. The African- American Matheus family moved from the projects to a nice home in a middle class neighborhood in Evansville, Indiana. Mom and Dad both work full-time jobs, the boys go to a good high school.

The story is set in the 1970's, but if I didn't read that in the book summary, I might not have known that. The situation is one that could be seen on the nightly news today, and there isn't much in the story that struck me as 1970s. The clothes, the language- it all seemed contemporary.

Terrell sticks to his story, somehow thinking that it will be less painful for his parents than the truth. Students at the high school lionize Lawrence, making him into a martyr. Tensions between blacks and whites rise in the community.

When Terrell's uncle believes he has found the men who killed his nephew, and the police find the evidence doesn't fit Terrell's version, his story unravels. Terrell's parents, destroyed by their older son's death, come undone when the truth of how he died is finally known.

The scene where Terrell is forced to confront his lie will leave the reader stricken. As a parent of two college aged sons, I related to the worst pain a mother can feel- one son causes the death of the other. Bennett writes with such power and emotion, it literally took my breath away.

Terrell's road to redemption is a long, difficult one. He has no friends, and his parents can't have him at home; he is a pariah. He forms a bond with his brother's girlfriend, a young woman with many problems of her own. Their fragile relationship is the one hopeful thing in his life.

Bennett captures the family dynamic; this is a family that could live down the street. The way in which the parents deal with the pain of their loss of both sons hit home for me. The relationship between the brothers- close when they are young, changing as they became teens, reflects the reality of many families.


The Lie will break your heart, and though it is not aimed at high school students, it would be a great book for them (especially young men) to read. It reminded me of George Pelecanos's The Turnaround, another powerful novel about race relations and how one lie can damage the lives of many people for years to come.

Rating 4 of 5 stars