Trust by Kate Veitch (Review)

Susanna Greenfield has given her all to being a good daughter, sister, wife, and mother. Somehow, she's maintained her profession as a college art teacher, as well as rearing two headstrong teenagers and nurturing a twenty-year marriage to Gerry, a confident, ambitious architect. She's also the eternal peacemaker between her pretty younger sister Angie, former junkie turned born-again Christian, and their strong- willed mother, Jean.

Just when Susanna is struggling to revive her creative career, a devastating accident rips apart the fabric of her world, exposing secrets which threaten to destroy both a marriage, and a life. Plumbing the rich emotional vocabulary of faith and betrayal, loyalty and forgiveness, Trust is the story of a woman's challenge to find her self.

My take:  This book took a few chapters to finally engage with the characters in the book.  Once I did, however, I found the women and the symbolism to be absolutely beautiful.  The perfect family on the outside is never real.  The family has its secrets, women have their guilt and insecurities, and the men in this novel, at least, are narcissistic.  I would have liked to have seen them be more rounded and two or three dimensional.  However, I can't say that I don't know Gerrys and Gabriels because I do.

The story, once I engaged, drew me in.  I empathized with the characters, even the children and their growing pains.  The author developed each character very carefully to tell a story of heartbreak, redemption, and ultimately, trust.

4 stars