Sheila Paris Klein

In the Cave of Memory Sheila Paris Klein

Six year old Truman is missing. One family despairs while another rejoices. A housekeeper with mystical talents, an Orthodox rabbi, a deaf social worker, a lounge singer, an artist, a geologist--their lives branch and braid around his disappearance. "Let's go," Agnes urges Ted. "I am not going to give birth in this cave." But she is going to be wrong. Within minutes, Truman and Lincoln, the youngest two of eight children, are born into the accomplished, irreverent Bennett family. They are carried out of the cave by their triumphant parents, who pride themselves and their entire family on being witty, brilliant, creative and adventurous. Six years later, Agnes meets a stranger on a train, has an affair with him and justifies her infidelity by bringing her new sexual expertise home to unsuspecting Ted as they both grapple with their devastating loss. Ranging over four decades, this insightful narrative with a wild comic streak, weaves indelible stories of loss and rescue, misguided psychology, infidelity and acceptance into a quirky, brilliant novel.