The Patron Saint of Liars

Rose is the protagonist of the novel. Her lies drive the plot forward, making her the “Patron Saint of Liars” the book is named after. A native of California, Rose is an extremely beautiful woman, like her mother, Helen, with whom she is very close. She often struggles to make decisions and instead looks to God for signs of how she must act. Her mother once tells her that pretty girls “never know their minds” (19), and this reflects how Rose struggles to take control of her life. She marries Thomas Clinton when she is very young and ends up feeling stifled by the marriage. When Thomas teaches her how to drive, Rose experiences a sense of freedom from driving all around California by herself. However, she is stricken when she discovers that she is pregnant; this discovery pushes her to run away to Saint Elizabeth’s, a home for unwed mothers in Kentucky, without revealing her pregnancy to Thomas. She is convinced that she will be stuck in the marriage if she doesn’t leave him right then. Rose feels a deep sense of guilt about this, and as penance, she decides that she will also cut ties with her mother, Helen, whom she loves very much.