INDELICATE DECEPTION

In Kemanis’ novel, a woman unearths information about her parents—and her own start in life.

A woman named Caty finds a box of mementos kept on a back closet shelf that helps her piece together the story of her parents. The narrative then shifts to 1970s Berkley, where readers are introduced to Caty’s father, Paul Leroy “Roy” Robertson, and her mother, Lenore “Len” Whitaker, when both are students. Roy, a Vietnam veteran originally from small-town Virginia, is taken by Len at once (“She’s a person who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to claim it”), and Len feels similarly about him. Len is a trust-funded lawyer’s daughter, Roy is a pensioned wounded war veteran trying to run a struggling restaurant, and they begin spending lots of time together. When Len becomes pregnant, Roy’s shocked when she initially wants to have an abortion in the days shortly after Roe v. Wade. Caty reads on, knowing, of course, the end result: the birth of a baby (called “Delicate”). But the more she investigates, the more mysteries crop up, not only about her father, but also about her long-departed mother, who “had sewn a sheath around Daddy’s heart.” At one point, it could be fairly said: “Home, fatherhood, friends. Lenore. This is Roy’s life, and it isn’t bad.” So, what changed to end this seemingly idyllic story? Kemanis narrates the life of Roy and Len at a leisurely pace with colorful prose full of sharply-realized dialogue. The multifaceted and very personal stresses of contemplating both abortion and pregnancy test the emotions of Roy and Len right at the point in the story when readers have come to care about them. Caty herself is a touch less well realized, but the book’s third-act revelations will keep readers turning pages.

An involving story of intergenerational discovery.