Macon

Lydia Phillips has written an incredible fiction novel, No Glass House. I really enjoyed all of the twists and turns that she wrote into her plot. The story is mainly about the intertwined lives of ten key people. These characters are either friends or relatives. Over the years their relationships have evolved or disintegrated. Events that are currently taking place force change into their lives. Some of the changes are positive; the other ones are forced due to betrayals.

As the characters adapt to their new situations, they experience some tremendous emotional growth. Ms. Phillips left no stone unturned; in this story she includes tons of infidelity including statutory rape and homosexuality, temptations, and racial issues. What is really scary is how, on the surface, the characters seem so normal. But underneath it all, they have their bad habits. The perfect husband with the wife and two children is gay. The sister of the couple with the not-so-good relationship has a husband who is having sex with her fifteen-year-old daughter. The husband of this sister married his wife because she was pregnant and now has affairs to get his needs met. The drama goes on.

What makes it scary? This seems to be how it is in real life. We fool ourselves with the illusions that things are how we would like them to be, yet underneath it all, things are pretty messed up, especially when it comes to betrayal in relationships. In reality we see so many relationships that appear normal falling apart due to infidelity. The Perfect Couple turns out not to be so perfect. It is scary because this happens so often. In No Glass House, Ms. Phillips has these issues appearing in her story and they are frighteningly real. Life has taught me about the realities of these situations. What I loved about this book is that each woman in it survived the situation and got stronger. That is very empowering.

I highly recommend No Glass House. You will definitely appreciate the strength of the woman and their friends that comes from the pages. If you think that you have the perfect life and are in denial about the realities of the issues in this novel, then you will just enjoy it for its fictional qualities. It is an awesome story. I think it would also be perfect for womens reader groups.

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No Glass House
by Lydia Phillips
Trafford Publishing (2007)
ISBN 1412085616
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (5/07)