Terpin Taft is happy to tell people what they want to hear, even if it means stretching the truth a bit. Until the day he meets a stranger on a train and tells the man a consoling lie. The results are so disastrous that Terpin resolves never again to speak or act except by the ... more »truth in his heart. But this, too, has disastrous -- if sometimes comical -- results. Elegantly written, terpin is a modern fable that emphasizes the importance of being true to ones own values -- no matter what.« less