Description
Book SynopsisEverything has been hidden from Roxanne G.—her birth name, her sister, her family history—until her “boyfriend” tries to ingratiate himself by flying in her estranged mother from Tel Aviv. That visit is the start of a tumultuous journey, in which she first learns about a profoundly disabled sister who lives in a residential community in the Galilee and later begins to unearth disturbing long-held family secrets. The process of facing this history and acknowledging the ways she’s been shaped by it will enable Roxanne to forge the kinds of meaningful connections that had for so long been elusive. In this way,
The Face Tells the Secret is the story about a woman who finds love and learns how to open herself to its pleasures.
The Face Tells the Secret is also a story that explores disability from many angles and raises questions about our responsibility to care for our kin. How far should Roxanne go to care for the wounded people in her life—her mother, her sister, the man who professes undying love? What should she take on? When is it necessary to turn away from someone’s suffering?
Trade Review"The Face Tells the Secret is a poignant novel about moving ahead when the past won't stop bleeding into the present." -- Eileen Gonzalez, Foreword Reviews
"Jane Bernstein is an accomplished novelist, screenwriter, and essayist. Her three memoirs -- Bereft, about an older sister who was murdered in 1966, and Loving Rachel and Rachel in the World, about her daughter's struggles with intellectual disabilities -- are incisive, critically acclaimed works. The easy description of The Face might read, "middle-aged woman seeking love discovers a family secret." But the novel transcends what could have been Hallmark material by way of the author's ability to create fresh landscapes and flawed characters." -- Rege Behe, Pittsburgh City Paper
