Book Review: White Picket Fences

Amanda Janvier’s idyllic home seems the perfect place for her niece Tally to stay while her vagabond brother is in Europe, but the white picket fence life Amanda wants to provide is a mere illusion. Amanda’s husband Neil refuses to admit their teenage son Chase, is haunted by the horrific fire he survived when he was four, and their marriage is crumbling while each looks the other way.

Tally and Chase bond as they interview two Holocaust survivors for a sociology project, and become startlingly aware that the whole family is grappling with hidden secrets, with the echoes of the past, and with the realization that ignoring tragic situations won’t make them go away.

White Picket Fences is a raw, emotional, and spellbinding book full of tangible characters and realistic family relationships. The story is told through the viewpoint of a different character in each chapter. In doing this the author is able to delve deep into the experiences and emotions of a number of main players in the story instead of just one.

This book is a story about family. It is about the past and how it affects the present. It is about pain and whether or not it is best to allow pain and trauma to remain hidden or reveal it to the light. It is about the relationships between parents and their children. It is a story of love between a man and a woman. And it is a story about friendship and trust.

There are many secrets in the story. Some secrets are fresh while others remain from generations past. Some of these secrets will be revealed and wrestled with in the opening chapters and others remain buried until the final pages. It is a captivating story that holds your attention cover to cover.

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