The Say So

Franks (Over the Plain Houses) follows in her beautiful latest the ripple effects after a teenager is forced to give up her baby. It’s 1957 in Charlotte, N.C., and quiet, pretty Edie Carrigan falls for Simon Bloom, an older Jewish boy, whom Edie’s parents don’t approve of. Edie’s mother would rather Edie spend time with her former beau, Aster Eriksen, but after Edie becomes pregnant, she’s sent to a home for unwed mothers, where she’s expected to give her baby up for adoption. That’s not what Edie wants, though, and after giving birth she refuses to sign the court papers. She visits her good friend Luce Waddell, hoping for help. Instead, a dramatic scene unfolds between the two of them, laying bare the limits of the girls’ friendship and what they’re able to share with each other. Franks then jumps forward 25 years, with Luce having raised a daughter, who has also become unexpectedly pregnant, and the situation provides an opportunity for Edie and Luce to reconnect. In one devastating plot turn after another, Franks injects bracing honesty into her depictions of the characters, always in gorgeous prose. Describing Edie and Simon’s erstwhile love, she writes, “their love loosened and broke, like decomposing fruit. It was a shock, to see it prove so seasonal.” This will stay with readers. (June)