Plain Truth

Having quite enjoyed ‘House Rules’ and been recommended ‘Plain Truth’ as another good JP novel to read, I was pleased to find it going very cheaply in the YMCA charity shop last week.

Now I have read it – and Bob has too, so here’s a short review.

This book irritated me intensely!

There- now I have said it – and dozens of people out there are disagreeing I am sure. Plot summary – Ellie is a hot-shot lawyer, late 30’s man-less, child-less, generally burned out and looking for some space to re-evaluate her life. She goes to stay with a relative, Leda.

Katie is a teenage Amish girl – on trial for murdering her new-born baby. Leda is Katie’s aunt [Leda has been ‘shunned’ by the Amish and has ‘married out’] Against her better judgement, Ellie finds herself taking the case. Rather than bail, the judge says Katie can return to the Amish farm, as long as Ellie lives with her, till the trial. 

Ellie stays, puts her own life in order and 99% of the loose ends are neatly tied up by the end of the book. But I remained unsatisfied!

In terms of ‘plot’, both Bob and I had sussed out very early on who the ‘guilty’ party was – but neither of us found this credible in terms of our understanding of the Amish.

The father of the baby was a ‘ghost-hunter’ academic, studying the paranormal. All that part of the story didn’t seem to fit [apparently JP has used this ghost device in another book]

The book is rather vague about dates – but there is another pregnancy in the book – and neither Bob nor I were convinced about the timings involved.

The aunt is called Leda – now maybe she changed her name after the Amish put her under the bann – but it strikes me as exceedingly odd to have the name of someone in Greek mythology who was seduced by Zeus. The Amish are not keen on ‘book-learning’ and I think

such a name is rather a strange choice.

I was confused after the Barn Raising – when the leftover food was ‘put away in Tupperware’ – but my internet research suggests that actually the Amish women do hold Tupperware and Pampered Chef parties [that seems quite incredible, but there you go…]

Also I felt that Ellie was rather insensitive wearing skimpy tops and shorts on the farm – surely Leda would have warned her that this would really offend the Amish modesty? I remember reading an interview with Kelly McGillis about her preparation for filming “Witness” She said she’d stayed with an Amish family, but had been asked to wear skirts and ‘modest’ dress. [Witness is a fabulous film btw]