A Slant of Light

A double murder stirs old loyalties and resentments in Lent’s (In the Fall) atmospheric novel. Malcolm Hopeton, a soldier newly returned from the Civil War, finds himself betrayed by both his wife, Bethany, and Amos Wheeler, the hired man entrusted with his farm. Hopeton’s explosive rage leads him to kill them both, provoking a variety of responses within his western New York community: some incensed, others sympathetic. Harlan Davis, Hopeton’s teenage farmhand and the sole witness to the crime, desperately gathers information for the defense. A portrait of a community disoriented by war and grappling for meaning in Christian spiritualism, the novel conveys Malcolm’s struggles as a detailed miniature of the postwar American consciousness—his disaffection and self-examination, combined with a sense of betrayal from those he trusted most. Lent’s vivid description of the rural landscape calls to mind a Wyeth painting, and a surprising sensuality enlivens the characters’ interactions with the world and one another. The novel is slow going at times, and the characters’ seeming lack of memories of the war is puzzling; even Hopeton, clearly scarred by his experience, refers to it only in passing. Yet piece by subtle piece, the story deftly casts its spell. (Apr.)