Liars and Saints
By: Maile Meloy
In beautiful stark prose, Maile Meloy tells the story of the Santerre family, following the complex relationships among four generations from World War II and the family’s arrival in California to the present. As the story shifts from one generation to the next and one decade to the next, Meloy competently shifts the tone of the novel to match the tone of each era and provides insight into the effects of social change through time on the structure of the family. While it dabbles in the realm of literary soap opera and has its moment of melodrama, the characters and the family secrets they share provide an engaging and compelling story of heartbreak, Catholic guilt, and sexual temptation.
Reviewer: Meghan Sitar
