In “Confessions,” a funeral director is confronted by a painful past

Author’s note: Nathan Ashcraft and Sarah Lawrence are two of the book’s three narrators. Sarah was the town’s high school biology teacher and a political activist whose zeal often overshadowed her judgment and had a devastating impact on Nathan’s life 30 years earlier, when he was one of her students. In the novel’s present day, Nathan serves as the town’s funeral home director, and he’s been summoned to the hospital morgue to retrieve a body. He’s shocked to discover it’s Sarah Lawrence. When he returns to the funeral home, he’s surprised to find Sarah’s husband waiting for him with a mysterious manuscript. 

Nathan

“I didn’t realize the process could go so fast,” Mrs. Lawrence’s husband said as I led him into my office. I didn’t look down at…