The Evidence Against Her

Starred review from July 30, 2001
Appearing after a decade-long hiatus, Dew's latest novel proves well worth the wait. In her vibrant new work, Dew (Dale Loves Sophie to Death) once again demonstrates her mastery of the nuances of family life; her slow, painstaking accretion of detail, like the cross-hatching on a Dürer etching, produces a rich and resonant landscape fully representative of its time and place. The setting here is Washburn, Ohio, a small town made prosperous by the Scofield engine manufacturer. Lily Scofield, her cousin Warren, and Robert Butler, son of the pastor of the Methodist church, are born on the same day in 1888, and their lives are intimately intertwined. Headstrong, clever Lily is their leader, first in their childhood and later as they mature. When she marries Robert, townspeople gossip that Warren is heartbroken, but the truth lies elsewhere; Warren carries a secret burden that he cannot acknowledge. His marriage to the much younger Agnes Claytor, eldest child in a dysfunctional family, disrupts the threesome's dynamic. World War I ends; the flu epidemic claims several victims. Another generation of children is born and become inseparable. And an accidental death occurs. Under the surface of these events Dew records minute changes in the emotional atmosphere, epiphanic moments that interrupt quotidian routines and small events, such as an argument over a riding habit, that signal domestic crises with lasting repercussions. A marvel of lyrical understatement, the narrative flows like a river—smooth, with surprising depths, some turbulence and the inexorability of time's passing. Does character conspire with fate, or against it? Does love solve problems, or cause them? Both ambiguous and satisfying, the ending is laden with portent, suggesting another novel to come. Meanwhile, the subtlety and complexity of Dew's absorbing story is a signal achievement. (Sept. 19)Forecast:An arresting cover is a plus for this novel, and critical attention will surely be forthcoming for Dew, the granddaughter of poet John Crowe Ransom. Handselling should alert discerning readers.

May 15, 2001
Sorrow is brewing in early 1900s Ohio, where Robert marries Lily, but Lily still pines for her cousin Warren.

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2001
In a small Ohio town on the fifteenth of September, 1888, three children are born within hours of each other: first cousins Lily and Warren Scofield, and Robert Butler, the minister's son. This unusual occurrence, which spawns lifelong friendships, creates a seemingly invincible triumvirate able to withstand childhood squabbles, teenage rivalries, college separations--even war. Yet when Lily and Robert marry, Warren becomes an outcast for the first time, a position that renders him particularly vulnerable to the unorthodox charms of Agnes Claytor. Headstrong and vivacious, Agnes' marriage into the staid Scofield clan releases her from the tyranny of her own family's unstable dynamics, wrought by an autocratic father and a manipulative mother, only to be thrust into Warren's equally tumultuous family structure. As the young couple raise their children within the intimidating confines of the Scofield compound, they learn to navigate the emotional minefields such close alliances produce. In tone, setting, and substance, Dew's style is reminiscent of such great early-twentieth-century novelists as Cather, Ferber, and Welty, as she insightfully portrays a fundamental understanding of human nature. With an unfailing eye for detail and an intense concentration on the intricacies of ordinary lives, Dew flawlessly reconstructs a bygone era of privilege and passion, one she cautiously infuses with contemporary insights into spousal abuse, alcoholism, and manic depression. And Dew is masterful in her depictions of subtle family interactions--the arched eyebrow, the caustic inflections--that strain those tenuous ties that bind, and threaten to unravel, even the most closely-knit families.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)