False Witness

Leigh is the primary protagonist of False Witness, and the bulk of the narrative focuses on her perspective. Leigh’s character embodies The Futility of Trying to Escape the Past. Following Buddy’s murder, Leigh fled to Chicago. However, she has ended up back in Atlanta, facing her demons. While Leigh seems to be the sister who has everything together, Leigh also suffers from her traumatic history. These trauma bonds link Leigh to Callie and create an intense loyalty between the sisters. However, they also lead to self-destructive behaviors. In Callie’s case, it’s her substance use. In Leigh’s case, it’s self-sabotaging, a “pattern” Callie recognizes:

If Callie had a needle fixation, Leigh had a chaos fixation. Her big sister longed for the calm normalcy of life with Walter and Maddy, but every time she reached a certain level of tranquility, she found a way to blow it up. Over the years, Callie had watched the pattern play out dozens of times (208).

Leigh’s self-sabotaging seems to stem from guilt surrounding her perceived role in Callie’s abuse. Leigh is intensely guilty about the fact that she was sexually assaulted by Buddy first and then still allowed Callie to babysit for him. When Callie first calls Leigh after slicing Buddy, Leigh thinks, “[She] was responsible for this. She had protected herself from Buddy, but then she had put Callie directly in his path” (94). Later, telling Walter about the incident, Leigh claims, “I knew that it was my fault. I pimped out my own sister to a pedophile” (290). Leigh’s guilt seems to contribute to feelings of unworthiness that drive her self-sabotage. For instance, regarding her marriage with Walter, she thinks, “[She] had finally accepted that she was the bad type of woman who couldn’t stay with a good man” (24).

Leigh’s character is a reminder that trauma takes all forms. It doesn’t have to be as drastic as developing a substance use disorder for it to impact someone’s life in damaging ways. It’s only when Leigh is able to confront her past that she can break free of its damaging influence. This occurs when Leigh confesses to Callie about Buddy assaulting her first; Callie reassures her that she doesn’t blame her for what happened, giving her the absolution she needs. In the end, Leigh is able to put the past to rest precisely because she confronted it.

Leigh also draws attention to one of the book’s pivotal themes, The Pervasive Nature of Misogyny and Violence Against Women. Leigh is the one who comes face to face with the graphic details of Andrew/Trevor’s crimes against women. However, Leigh also gives voice to less obvious instances of misogyny, such as her colleague’s objectification of rape survivors as “exposure.” She also alludes to sexist systems that protect men, noting, “No matter what happened to women, men always, always covered each other’s asses” (98).