Indelicate Deception

Indelicate Deception by V.S. Kemanis is not just a novel—it is a mirror reflecting the tangled threads of family, identity, and the weight of choices that echo across generations.

At the heart of Indelicate Deception is Caty Robertson, a woman shaped by the enigmatic absence of her mother, Lenore. From the very first pages, Kemanis immerses us in a world of quiet betrayals and unspoken truths, deftly crafting a narrative that is as intimate as it is unsettling. Caty’s journey to uncover the truth about her mother is driven by an aching need—a yearning for closure, understanding, and perhaps even forgiveness. As a reader, I felt the sting of her longing, the relentless pull of unanswered questions that so often define our most complex relationships.

Kemanis excels at portraying the raw emotional terrain of a daughter abandoned. Caty’s father, Roy, is a steadfast figure, a single parent who does his best to shield his daughter from the pain of Lenore’s departure. And yet, through Caty’s eyes, we see that even the strongest love cannot fully mend the fractures left by a missing parent. As she pieces together the puzzle of her past, we, too, are swept into the intricate dance of discovery, dread, and reluctant acceptance.

Lenore herself is a masterfully drawn character—one who defies simple categorization. She is neither villain nor victim, but a woman burdened by her own past and driven by choices she felt she had no alternative but to make. Her decision to leave her daughter, to reinvent herself under a different name, is both heartbreaking and infuriating. Kemanis does not ask us to excuse Lenore, but rather to understand her—a feat that is as painful as it is necessary.

What makes Indelicate Deception so compelling is its ability to capture the shades of gray in every human relationship. There are no easy answers here, no clean resolutions. Instead, Kemanis offers us the messy, complicated reality of love and its failings, of duty and desire warring within the heart. The novel’s prose is elegant and restrained, allowing the characters’ emotions to simmer just beneath the surface, creating a tension that lingers long after the final page.

I found Indelicate Deception to be an exquisitely moving meditation on the past’s grip on the present. It is a book that does not shy away from the pain of self-discovery, nor does it offer easy comfort. Instead, it leaves us with something far more profound—the reminder that understanding, however belated, is a gift in itself.

For those who have ever longed for answers or struggled to reconcile love with loss, this novel will resonate in ways both unexpected and deeply felt. Kemanis has given us a story that is as delicate as it is devastating, and one that, for me, will not soon be forgotten.