House Arrest
A Novel
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
A visiting nurse forms a bond with a young female cult member in this "fascinating" novel (Rosellen Brown, New York Times–bestselling author of The Lake on Fire).
Home-care nurse Emily Klein has been assigned to make prenatal visits to an unusual client: Pippa Glenning, a cult member whose daughter died during a Solstice ceremony—an event for which she is under arrest, spared imprisonment for now and allowed home confinement only because of her pregnancy. Emily cannot help but feel compassion for Pippa, especially in light of her own family history. But everyone warns her not to get too close . . .
Set in Springfield, Massachusetts and on an island in Penobscot Bay, the story is told in alternating points of view—all centering on the theme of political activism and its consequences, especially when politics become personal. House Arrest explores the meaning of family loyalty when beliefs conflict, and the question of when breaking the rules serves justice.
"[A] strong first novel . . . thoughtful and tightly composed, unflinching in taking on challenging subjects and deliberating uneasy ethical conundrums." —Publishers Weekly
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this strong first novel, an unusual relationship develops between a home-care nurse and the pregnant cult member under house arrest to whom she is assigned prenatal visits. Emily Klein suspects that this new assignment has been dumped on her because her boss is trying to get rid of her, but she quickly warms to her new charge, Pippa Glenning, court-ordered to wear an ankle monitor after the deaths by exposure of her 14-month-old daughter and another child in the communal Family of Isis home she lives in considered a cult by the disapproving community; the two children froze to death during a night of ritualistic celebrations. Emily's ability to empathize with Pippa stems from her own family problems: her father was imprisoned for setting fire to a draft board office during the Vietnam War and Emily provides daily care for her cousin's daughter, born with spina bifida. Throughout, Emily is vexed by the question: is something wrong just because the consequences are awful? Meeropol's work is thoughtful and tightly composed, unflinching in taking on challenging subjects and deliberating uneasy ethical conundrums.
