Books: “Our Best Intentions” by Vibhuti Jain

New Yorkers of a certain age may remember the 1987 Tawana Brawley case, in which a Black teenager from Upstate claimed she was kidnapped and raped by four white men and then stuffed into a trash bag.  A year later, a jury determined Brawley had not been the victim of a forcible sexual assault, and that she herself may have created the appearance of such an attack.

Vib Jain’s novel “Our Best Intentions” lands us in similar territory except now the shoe is on the other foot. In a predominantly wealthy white suburb, Henry, a handsome HS football hero, is found lying on a football field, having been stabbed in the stomach with a penknife. Chiara, a troubled young Black woman who happens to be in the vicinity, is accused of the crime. No one gets her side of the sorry because traumatized, she runs away. Yet the wealthy white townspeople begin inventing stories about Chiara as a homeless person who attacked poor Henry for money.

However, turns out there was a witness to the crime: young Angie, a thoughtful South Asian fellow high schooler/swim champ who senses all is not kosher. What were Henry and his skeevy buddy Chris doing on the field at that hour anyway? And what was all that screaming about? She is terrified to talk to the local police about what she’s seen and heard. Further, Henry’s wealthy parents aren’t making it any easier, offering to create a foundation which guarantees her a swim scholarship if she doesn’t blab.

Jain’s story is a textbook case of a story running away with itself, as protestors from nearby NYC begin piling into town, carrying banners and demanding “justice for Chiara” who is still MIA. In the end, nobody’s happy.

“Our Best Intentions” is a fascinating first novel for Jain, a former New Yorker and Indian-American who knows to tell a good tale. And as a former lawyer she understands justice all too well.