The Secret of You and Me

Lenhardt (Heresy) delivers a love story between childhood friends and lovers who rediscover their spark 18 years after their high school graduation. Nora Noakes reluctantly returns from Washington, D.C., to Lynchfield, Tex., for her estranged father’s funeral. Her visit becomes an extended stay after discovering she’s been willed her father’s property. Soon after Nora reunites with Sophie Russell, the two begin to feel the pull of their long-lost passion, despite Sophie’s effort over the years to preserve a veneer of “conservative, Christian, straight.” Nora, who left Lynchfield to join the military and has led a free-spirited, openly bisexual life, has a strikingly pointed view of the small-mindedness held by the friends and family she left behind, while Sophie is married to a man and wants to keep things that way, though her dishonesty has driven her to heavy drinking. Lenhardt focuses on the couple’s sexual attraction in vivid detail (“Soon we were clawing at each other’s clothes, blindly trying to find bare skin to touch”), and while their passion feels genuine, Lenhardt’s florid descriptions overshadow the nuances of their connection. The story implies Nora and Sophie are driven recklessly by love, but lust is the prevailing emotion on the page. Still, Lenhardt convinces in her portrayal of the conflict between desire and control. (Aug.)