Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain (St. Martin's Press ARC)

This novel takes place in North Carolina during the sixties. Then, it skips forward to the Twenty first century. The novel is amazingly honest about decisions made for poor people and people who suffer with an illness like Epilepsy or people with  a low high IQ. During the sixties in the South, no one had any thought about special education or other programs to help these people become more responsible for themselves. Sadly, the answer for these women and their children was a Eugenics Program. Eugenics is thought of as a humane way to stop women from having more babies. Really, it's very inhumane. Jane, the Social Worker, is the only one who questions the decisions made by social workers and nurses. For example, Mary Ella who thinks slowly, is sterilized after she births Baby William. However, Mary Ella is told by the authority figures that her appendix burst. She is told this is the reason for the  black stitches on her stomach. It takes a courageous Jane, a new Social Worker, to think about the fact that a lie can not be the right way to handle such a decision. Jane decides honesty is more important. However, what a bag of flies opens up when the truth is told to the people involved.

All of the characters touched me in some way. There is Nonnie, a grandmother, Jane, the Social Worker, Mary Ella and Ivy who are sisters. Henry Allen Gardiner, Lita's family of boys who are Black and Mary Ella and Ivy's mother who never speaks a word in the novel but her presence is felt as it is revealed what happened to her along with the actions she chose to take while living in Grace County. Also, there is Jane's husband and Jane's mother.

The novel, Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain, made my head spin with questions about social welfare.I thought about how difficult it is to make decisions for other people. Where does a person draw the line? At times I became very angry with Jane. I felt like she had gotten too involved with her clients. I thought she did make bad choices even though those choices were made for all the right reasons. Then again there didn't seem to be any other way to handle the situations unless she chose to sit back and hold her hands in her lap. I found it unbelievable that only Jane, no other social worker, had taken a fan to the family. Little comforts which make a large difference had been overlooked. It really touched my heart when Jane took the two girls to the beach on her day off. The sisters had never seen the ocean.

However, towards the end Jane, the Social Worker, seemed as childlike as any fifteen year old. Bright ideas would come in her head. She would move forward without looking at the situation fully. I wanted to yell stop Jane! Think, for a moment think of the consequences. The Hart family see her as innocent or plain stupid when she does not know how to use the pump at the sink. When told to prime it, Jane does not know what to do. When she needs to use the outhouse, she thinks of toilet tissue. No idea that these people have never used toilet paper. They have only used pages from a catalogue like Sears and Roebuck.

Although I've read the last page, my stomach is still churning, thinking about how much say should the Federal agencies have in our lives. When is it right to stop intruding and allow people to make their personal choices whether the choices lead to bad or good? These social workers left a lot of heavy mistakes behind on their way to straightening out the lives of the poor in Grace County.

 I think the county name Grace has a meaning in the novel. I also think Deaf Mule Road as a meaning in the novel. Diane Chamberlain does not waste words. Every word, every sentence and every paragraph was chunky with provoking thoughts. dianechamberlain

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