Linda’s Book Obsession Reviews “The Kindest Lie” by Nancy Johnson, William Morrow, An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2022

Linda’s Book Obsession Reviews “The Kindest Lie” by Nancy Johnson, William Morrow, An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2022

Nancy Johnson, the author of “The Kindest Lie” has written a memorable and thought-provoking novel. The genres for this novel are Political Fiction, Domestic Family Fiction, Black and African American Women’s Fiction with a touch of Historical Fiction. The timeline for this story is 2008, when Barack Obama was elected president. With his election as president was a promise of hope for equality for Black Americans. The author describes her characters as complex and complicated. There are dysfunctional family relationships. One of the most significant questions that this novel raises is does love allow for a kind lie? Another concern is that can one forget and forgive the actions of the past? I was gifted this book from BookBrowse books and William Morrow for an honest review.

This novel shows the contrast between classes, conflict and prejudice, racism, betrayals, and deep secrets. The author discusses the importance of family, a mother’s love, coming of age, honesty, equality and hope.

The protagonist of the story, Ruth, is extremely well educated, married and economically comfortable. Her husband would like to start a family. Ruth has secrets from her past that can cause a serious problem for her relationship. Ruth returns to her home town, where there is poverty, frustration, and realizes that Black and White people are not treated fairly or equally. Ruth is determined to face her past and all the secrets. As she explores, she realizes that her family is much more involved than it appears, and she is on a personal quest to deal with the past so that she can move on to the future.

I would highly recommend this amazing book to other readers.