The Patron Saint Of Liars: A Novel [Paperback]

When we meet Rose, she is a very confused, Catholic woman who realizes after some years of marriage (and despite the fact that she's pregnant), that she simply doesn't love her husband anymore. Perhaps she never did. Rather than getting help from her local priest or even a marriage counselor and, even short of confiding in her husband (about her lack of love for him or her pregnancy), Rose does what Rose does best...she simply leaves.

With no destination in mind and no money (Rose's preferred method of travel), Rose ends up in a home for unwed mothers in Kentucky. She lies to the nuns about her family and eventually meets Son, the handsome, charismatic handyman at the home. All the pregnant girls are in love with Son, but of course, it is Rose who ends up snaring him...and marrying him. The fact that Rose already has a husband is simply glossed over. This is a woman who doesn't want to be bothered with details.

Fifteen years later, Son is a good father to Cecilia, the daughter that isn't really his...at least in a biological sense. Whether Rose is a good (second) wife and mother, is a more subjection question.

Rose and Son have inherited the mansion belonging to the founder of the home and while both Son and Cecilia are happy to live there, Rose chooses instead to live in Son's small cabin. It seems, for reasons not made completely clear, that this woman simply can't bear life in a mansion with her gorgeous husband and daughter. Strange? Maybe for you and I, but definitely not for our Rose. She seems to feel a compulsion to do everything more than just a bit off-key.

Complications arise when Rose receives a letter from her first, and real, husband. It won't take a very astute reader to guess what Rose does next and it gives nothing of the plot away to say that yes, she does. She leaves.

This is a very forgiving book, however, and it ends on a very cliched note...with a miracle. A hot spring that had been dormant since the 1930s begins to bubble and flow. And all due to Rose, no doubt!

To say that this book has unlikable characters is putting it mildly. Rose is the most selfish and self-centered character I've encountered in a long time, in fiction or in real life. Her propensity for running away was as tiresome as a child's temper tantrum and when she finally did decide to face something she, herself, had created, her motivation for doing so was vague and cliched. She's the type of woman anyone with any sense would just love to slap across the face while telling her to grow up and count her blessings!

Son was just as bad. He was a nice person, but he may have been a little "too nice." The fact that he took all of Rose's stupid antics without much complaint at all was beyond belief and made me actively dislike him. Cecilia was a brat, but here, at least, we could understand why.

There really wasn't much substance to this book. I can't for the life of me understand why it was even published, let alone made into a television play. I've seen the television play and for those of you who are wondering, no, the book isn't more fleshed-out. It's every bit as bad.

There are more good books in this world than any one of us will ever be able to read. This isn't one of them. Do yourself a favor and skip it.