A secret swirls at the heart of ‘ The Mothers’

Two worlds tug at young friends’ intertwined lives

There is an old adage that says never compare your insides to other people’s outsides, a lesson that would serve the protagonists of The Mothers well.

Set in a black community in contemporary Southern California, Brit Bennett’s debut novel ( Riverhead, 288 pp., eeeg out of four) focuses on the lives of three characters and their journey into adulthood: Nadia Turner, a high school senior still mourning her mother, who committed suicide; Luke Sheppard, the 21- year- old former football star and preacher’s son Nadia falls for; and Aubrey, Nadia’s chaste best friend.

And it focuses on a secret — an unplanned pregnancy and how an ensuing cover- up affects the characters’ lives.

The book opens with “the Mothers lamenting” the secret. These faceless and nameless church elders act as a speculative Greek chorus, reappearing throughout the book, voicing exasperation as well as expectations and opinions. Thus the reader is given an intimate look at the two worlds the protagonists must navigate: the world they live in and the world others, in this case the Mothers, ascribe to them.

Bennett’s witty and worldly prose belies her age, 26, as she brings a strong voice to her wide range of characters, from the youthful protagonists to the church elders. Her storytelling does what all truly good fiction does: It draws you in and, on a universal level, connects with you and makes you think. We may not identify with Nadia, Luke and Aubrey at first, but we find ourselves relating to them. Their emotions and burdens speak to us.

There is a commonality to how we all live our lives, and it shines through in Bennett’s writing. We are our past acts and secrets, but we are also what others perceive us to be. The Mothers is a thought- provoking novel that will resonate long after it is read.

EMMA TRIM Author Brit Bennett