Hidden River

A 30-something retail worker gets a chance to shake off her doldrums and come clean about the past in this crisp and unsettling novel from Lippmann (Lech). It takes place in 2008 Philadelphia, where Cass Trout is surprised to receive an invitation to her former best friend Sally Sellers’s wedding in London. Though the formerly inseparable pair have been estranged since high school, right after Sally’s father, Len, died from a heart attack, Cass contemplates attending the nuptials, if only to catch up and possibly clear the air between them. But there’s also a burning secret she wants to spill: when Cass was 18, she embarked on an illicit affair with Len, which she never divulged to Sally, and which caused tension and confusion as Cass snuck around with Len. Admitting that “shame is the weight that I carry,” Cass is eager to exorcise her demons and figure out her ambiguous sexuality. Phone conversations with Sally break the ice, but a missing passport spells trouble. For much of the narrative, Cass reflects on how she was groomed by Len beginning at 12, and she considers the line between abuse and agency (“The writing glared on the wall. Yet I’d choose him again and again despite, if not because of, all signs of warning”). Readers will admire this gritty slice of life. Agent: Jenni Ferrari-Adler, Aevitas Creative Management. (May)