Denise Hildreth, Flies on the Butter

Flies on the Butter

Denise Hildreth

WestBow, February 2007, $14.99

ISBN 1595542086

Asked to come home by her family, Washington D.C. based children's rights lobbyist Rose Fletcher drives to Mullins, South Carolina, though she prefers not to go. As the miles pass, she reflects back on decisions she made that feel hollow and dishonest, no matter how she rationalizes them.

Rose thinks about what caused the estrangement with her mother, and fears a confrontation when they see one another. She ponders why she deceived her husband, who believes they are trying to have a baby instead of telling him she is not ready for a child. She secretly used birth control to insure she does not become pregnant. Besides which, since she is having an affair, short of DNA testing, she would not know who sired her offspring. Feeling morally bankrupt, Rose considers how to regain the high road she used to travel in her relationships.

Rose, being a paradox of conflict makes for a fascinating look at a woman whose moral compass is pointing in a negative direction. Though readers will wonder why she failed to fly home, which would have somewhat devastated the premise of the open road meeting of stereotypical people, fans will appreciate her self analysis via flashbacks as to how each of her key relationships have recently been filled by mendacity on her part. LIES ON THE BUTTER is a deep character study of how easy a person can make wrong decisions, because in the short run that is the easier path to take.