The Kindest Lie, Nancy Johnson
The Kindest Lie, Nancy Johnson
9 Rating(s)
List: $26.99 | Sale: $18.89
Club: $13.49

The Kindest Lie
A Novel

Author: Nancy Johnson

Narrator: Shayna Small

Unabridged: 11 hr 5 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 02/02/2021


Synopsis

Recommended by O Magazine * GMA * Elle * Marie Claire * Good Housekeeping * NBC News * Shondaland * Chicago Tribune * Woman's Day * Refinery 29 * Bustle * The Millions * New York Post * Parade * Hello! Magazine * PopSugar * and more!“The Kindest Lie is a deep dive into how we define family, what it means to be a mother, and what it means to grow up Black...beautifully crafted.” —JODI PICOULT""A fantastic story...well-written, timely, and oh-so-memorable.""—Good Morning America“The Kindest Lie is a layered, complex exploration of race and class."" —The Washington PostEvery family has its secrets...It’s 2008, and the inauguration of President Barack Obama ushers in a new kind of hope. In Chicago, Ruth Tuttle, an Ivy-League educated Black engineer, is married to a kind and successful man. He’s eager to start a family, but Ruth is uncertain. She has never gotten over the baby she gave birth to—and was forced to leave behind—when she was a teenager. She had promised her family she’d never look back, but Ruth knows that to move forward, she must make peace with the past.Returning home, Ruth discovers the Indiana factory town of her youth is plagued by unemployment, racism, and despair. As she begins digging into the past, she unexpectedly befriends Midnight, a young white boy who is also adrift and looking for connection. Just as Ruth is about to uncover a burning secret her family desperately wants to keep hidden, a heart-stopping incident strains the town’s already searing racial tensions, sending Ruth and Midnight on a collision course that could upend both their lives.Powerful and unforgettable, The Kindest Lie is the story of an American family and reveals the secrets we keep and the promises we make to protect one another.

About Nancy Johnson

A native of Chicago’s South Side, Nancy Johnson worked for more than a decade as an Emmy-nominated, award-winning television journalist at CBS and ABC affiliates nationwide. A graduate of Northwestern University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she lives in downtown Chicago and manages brand communications for a large nonprofit. Her first book, The Kindest Lie, was a Book of the Month Club selection and a Target Book Club pick.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Lisa of Troy on December 08, 2023

Here is my one-minute spoiler-free video review: [URL not allowed] The year is 2008. Obama has been recently elected, and hope is in the air. We meet Ruth Tuttle who is a black professional woman living in Chicago married to a kind man named Xavier. The couple is exploring expanding their......more

Goodreads review by Nilufer on September 04, 2021

So intense, so emotional and thought provoking reading! I still dry my tears! Especially at the end get read to spill your ugly tears! They will hardly stop! The events of the book takes place in 2008: the year of the first election of Obama welcoming the changing winds of political spectrum, bring......more

Goodreads review by Katie on January 18, 2021

I was impressed this debut novel managed to cover so many topics including race, social class, and motherhood to name a few. What is unique about this story is each reader might walk away with a different aspect that made the most impact. This is a book I found myself thinking about days after I fin......more

Goodreads review by Danielle on January 19, 2022

Note: I received a free copy of this book, in exchange here is my honest review. This was a pretty great read. ❤️ Ruth is a determined woman. It’s terribly sad that there are kids out there, like Midnight. 😢 The richest nation in the world…. and there are still kids who don’t have shoes to keep their......more

Goodreads review by Christine on May 18, 2021

Outlier here. This book has very good bones, but a there are a few issues that led to my relatively low 3-star rating. I did appreciate the thrust of the novel, which takes place in November and December 2008. Several excellent themes are addressed, including racism, poverty, abandonment, the challe......more