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Three novels captured my interest (and engaged my book club colleagues) this year. Each deals with cultural conflict, and each focuses on the complex ways in which people try to resolve personal struggles in pursuit of truth and justice.
Larry Watson's Montana 1948 (Milkweed, 1993) is a small book (almost a novella) about a big topic. David Hayden is a Montana county sheriff following in his father's footsteps. His brother Frank is the Mercer County (Montana) doctor - a man with pedigree, purpose, and misdirected passion. The boys and their father dominate the Montana landscape in which the novel is set. They are living icons until Frank is accused of sexually abusing his female patients, most of whom are Native Americans. The accusations have foundation, and all three Hayden men have to take a stand. Each must deal...