(Spoiler heavy)
It's the '60s. Stephen's the rich white preacher's son with the "perfect family" and Ruthie's the poor little black girl who lives with her grandmother in a small house on Stephen's property. She's always been the only girl in his life -- going from a playmate to a sister to a lover and....back to a sister. Literally.
The plot itself is a cliche: Dad's the town's beloved preacher...but secretly he's an asshole who beats his kids and cheats on his wife! Introducing an element of incest doesn't make it original, it makes it gross. I kind of appreciated the fact that, in the end, Stephen and Ruthie decided that it didn't matter that they shared a father, but that was about the only brave/new thing in the text. Mostly the prose felt rushed and predictable. And, though I don't generally shy away from sexual moments in books, when they're between children I'm more than a little squeamish.
The best thing this book has going for it is that it's a quick read.
D+
