Home Sweet Home

October 24, 2016
Smith’s terrific new novel opens with a brutal 1985 attack on a family in a small South Dakota town, then flashes back to 1950 when the husband (a WWII pilot) and his wife first left New York City with their two small children for a new life in Rapid City, Iowa. Cal and Betsy Kusek, invited west by a fellow veteran and sponsored by his parents, appreciate the hospitality, but the virulent fear of communism—just being a Democrat raises suspicion—among the locals shocks them. Although he’s an attorney, Cal builds a ranch while Betsy helps the local doctor as a visiting nurse. She worries, though, that her flirtation with the Communist Party will hinder Cal’s burgeoning political career. Smith illuminates the force of McCarthyism-generated fear in the Midwest and effectively personalizes it through the persecution the Kusak family endures for their liberal beliefs. The author also skillfully ties together the two time periods, avoiding melodrama. Agent: Molly Friedrich, Friedrich Literary Agency.

With an upbeat narration, Cady McClain sets the tone for this timely look at a shameful episode in American history, the McCarthy era. After a violent attack on a family in South Dakota in 1985, the novel flashes back to the 1950s. Cal and Betsy Kusek and their children leave New York City for the Midwest, hoping for a better life. A systematic persecution of the family, based on their liberal Democratic beliefs, the possibility that they're Jewish, and Betsy's early flirtation with Communism, is rooted in prejudice and fear. McClain delivers credible characters and manages to set the fear-filled tone of the Midwest in the '50s. The combination of political ignorance and religious bigotry, delivered intelligently by McClain, makes for un-put-down-able listening. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine