Connie Biewald

Truth Like Oil Connie Biewald

Truth Like Oil, is the impactful story of two mothers in Boston, Massachusetts: Nadine Antoine, a Haitian-American nurses' aide, and Hazel Watkins, a white cantankerous nonagenarian felled by a stroke who struggles with her own helplessness and dependency.




When Nadine's youngest son, Chance, is arrested, and her eldest son, Henry, the only Black undergraduate on a scholarship at his college, threatens to quit to help the family, Nadine wrestles with how much of her sons' parentage she is willing to reveal to her boys.




Meanwhile, Chance's basketball coach, Gary, who is also Hazel's spoiled and neglectful son, turns up in court to defend the boy. Suddenly, while fighting for her sons' futures, Nadine must contend with Gary's intentions and his romantic overtures.




Polyphonic and vibrant, Truth Like Oil is a brilliant tale of racial bias and the foundations of community; a novel of our times and totally irresistible.