Lies Will Take You Somewhere

In a voice reminiscent of Cynthia Ozick, this Jewish/Gothic novel renders the fracture and healing of the Rosen family. Jane Rosen leaves her three daughters and husband Saul, a rabbi, to care for her mother in Florida. In Jane’s absence, Saul discovers—through the deathbed confession of a man in his congregation—that his wife had an affair ten years earlier. Enraged, he ostracizes Jane from the family and strands her in Florida with her grief.

Shelia Schwartz’s first novel navigates through...