Until She Comes Home
*Starred Review* People get along on Alder Avenue, a peaceful Detroit community of working-class folks whose lives have centered on their church, their place in the social hierarchy, and their families. Husbands work hard; wives run the home; children are expected to be well behaved. But things are changing. It’s 1958, and some of the people on Alder are growing restive. Their all-white neighborhood is changing; factories are closing, and some men from the block are known to visit a nearby whorehouse. Then a black woman is murdered in an adjacent neighborhood, and Elizabeth, a childlike white woman who lives with her elderly immigrant father, disappears. Neighbors rally to find Elizabeth; men organize search parties; women organize meals. Everyone gossips, and some assign blame as they await Elizabeth’s return. Among the concerned neighbors are three very different women for whom Elizabeth’s disappearance becomes a catalyst for personal change: Malina, obsessive, unstable queen of the social circuit; pregnant Grace, compliant and the embodiment of her name; and Julia, Grace’s friend and opposite, whose wry humor masks doubt and terrible sadness. Roy makes every detail count as she builds her characters and gently but inexorably leads them to reexamine their own lives. What seems to begin in the glowing warmth of a homey kitchen transforms into a probing emotional drama that speaks powerfully to women about family, prejudice, power (one of the women is raped), and secrets. --Stephanie Zvirin