cover image Home Truth

Home Truth

Janis Stout. Soho Press, $19.95 (278pp) ISBN 978-0-939149-66-7

It's a hard Christmas for Meg, the heroine of Stout's ( Eighteen Holes ) searching, unequivocating novel set in West Texas. Mother of two pre-schoolers and wife of a garage mechanic, Meg is also the younger sister of blind and retarded Lisbeth, whose disabilities strongly colored Meg's childhood and whose presence during the months spanned here will mark her future. When the institution where Lisbeth lives announces plans to close for the holidays, Meg reluctantly--and against husband Stan's wishes--agrees to care for her sister temporarily. (Their parents, in Tennessee, refuse to help, as do and two other siblings, a self-absorbed younger sister and an undirected brother.) Angry, demanding and unappealing, Lisbeth frightens Meg's kids and becomes Stan's excuse to move out. Meg has a deep sympathy for Lisbeth but feels helpless; gradually, however, with the aid of friends made through her work as a typist for nearby graduate students, she understands she must choose whom she will be responsible for. Stout's unsentimental, incisive characterization gives her story--and Meg's brave decision--resonance and authority. (Apr.)