Lenore Marie Walker walked out on her daughter and her boyfriend the day after her daughter’s first birthday party. She had quit her job as a public defender but felt it necessary to work because she no longer received money from her father and her boyfriend had lost his disability insurance as a disabled veteran.

In addition, she felt she had no knack for being a mother. Her boyfriend was a natural father. Her daughter, Delicate Soul Robertson, who has taken the name Caty, starts searching for her when she is nineteen after living her life motherless.

The second half of the book describes Caty’s search and winds up as a summary of the major events of her life up to the present age of fifty-one.

The Vietnam War polarized American households as the draft made them take sides. Either they thought the goal of the war was worthwhile or a waste of time and for many families created havoc if the children’s politics were at odds with their parents or if the sons had a low draft number and were sent to Vietnam while their classmates basked in the university environment.

For all the tension described in this era, I thought the story was too pat and predictable. Maybe because I lived through the era and saw what it did to families – tearing them apart because of their limited choices causing wounds that never healed. This was just another story of a family caught in the maelstrom of the seventies and the Vietnam War.

This story is anchored in California from Berkeley to Los Angeles. The same choices were made on the East coast from New York to Philadelphia. While I felt sympathetic toward the Robertsons’ family dilemma, it seemed like just another tragedy from that era that people had to wade through and absorb as best they could.

I would recommend it to people who want to learn more about the seventies culture or wanted to be reminded of that period in American life,

Indelicate Deception by V.S. Kemanis is a gripping family drama about uncovering painful truths. Raised by her loving but secretive father, Caty Robertson is determined to unravel the mystery of her mother’s sudden disappearance. Set against the backdrop of the socially tumultuous 1970s, the novel weaves a tale of a mixed-race couple navigating love, societal pressures, and personal demons. As Caty delves deeper into her parents’ complex history, she uncovers startling revelations that challenge her idealized vision of their relationship. This emotional and thought-provoking story explores themes of identity, family, and the search for truth, making it a compelling read for fans of deeply layered narratives.