Named a Most Anticipated book 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.” … 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 Post
A promise could betray you.
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 traumatic 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 revealing, The Kindest Lie captures the heartbreaking divide between Black and white communities and offers both an unflinching view of motherhood in contemporary America and the never-ending quest to achieve the American Dream.
more
The Kindest Lie is a deep dive into how we define family, what it means to be a mother, what secrets we owe to those we love, and what it means to grow up Black. Does our past become the skeleton upon which our future fleshes out — or can we erase our beginnings? This beautifully crafted debut will keep you asking these questions and more.
This book is a page turner with a huge heart, a story told with fierce honesty and and unflinching emotion. I loved it.
The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson is the story of a young woman who has tried to rise from her humble beginnings. She is happily married, has a good job, and a lovely home. Now the baby her husband wants is no longer a nebulous thing, somewhere in the future, but something immediate. She had to tell him the truth about what had happened to her when she was 17. How would he react? Well, he didn’t react well. She went back home, partly to heal, partly to see if she could find her child. As she searched, it became apparent that it was not a legal adoption, but a personal one, arranged outside the law.
This was a heart-breaking story for many reasons. It was intensely personal, for one. It touched spots in me that hurt, despite the fact I had never been in this situation. Johnson wrote from the heart to the heart. It was difficult to read much of the time. Things can be when one has no power over them. I had no power, and she had no power. She just had pain, and her pain transfers to the reader. It was a moving story, although those words seem not enough to describe what she went through. Read it for yourself; it’s the only way.
I was invited to read a free ARC of The Kindest Lie by Netgalley. All opinions contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #thekindestlie
There are two moments where I’ve been inspired these last weeks by writers who talk frankly across the racial divides in our country, yet in a way doused with optimism, with a voice that isn’t condescending – but realistic about our challenges while laced with hope. One moment was watching Amanda Gorman, poet, on stage at the presidential inauguration, the other was reading THE KINDEST LIE by Nancy Johnson.
I loved how, through the story, the author tackles the imperfection of being American; how place and birth family, and also race, set us on a path that greatly determines our path and specific struggles. She tells this story through two relatable characters; Ruth, an engineer who as a teenager fell pregnant and gave away her baby, and Midnight, a white kid from a family caught on the brink of poverty, in a town that’s struggling to survive.
When Ruth returns to her hometown, determined to find out what happened to the child from her past, she befriends a local boy called Midnight. But as she learns more about what happened to her child, she is forced to face the reality of the sacrifices her family made that she somewhat took for granted– which enabled her to go to college and escape her hometown. She grapples with her own decisions – why was she able to walk away, and is choosing to re-entering the child’s life now – and is that even the right thing to do?
It’s not always easy to read a book that tackles issues of the race divide in our society- one that faces the dilemma that chances for all us all aren’t created equal. But this book is so well written, the characters so enchanting, the story so engrossing, that it never feels cynical, just thought-provoking and a hundred percent worth your time to read. A skilled, poignant debut from an author who writes from the heart.
Emotionally powerful, beautifully crafted, and a total page-turner, I loved The Kindest Lie. The audiobook narration by Shayna Small was wonderful. Highly recommend!
In The Kindest Lie, Nancy Johnson gives us two unforgettable characters. Ruth and Midnight represent different Americas: one trending up, one spiraling down. Johnson — through graceful sentences, tenderness, dramatic expertise, and overflowing empathy — is able to twist these Americas into a singular portrait of a country in transition. This enviable debut enlightens while breaking your heart. A truly beautiful achievement.
Essential, powerful, wrenching: Nancy Johnson’s debut novel tells a history of family secrets and lies shaped by the racism that permeates modern America… A riveting story, a searing lesson on why Black Lives Matter is today’s crucial social justice movement.
The Kindest Lie is a lovely, poignant, and at times heart-wrenching story of family, identity, and the bonds forged in struggle. Character and theme overlap beautifully, as Johnson crafts protagonists who are layered and flawed, exhibiting the deep thematic dimensions of the story through their choices without sacrificing their believability as real people. I immensely enjoyed getting lost in Ruth’s story, especially, following her along a life path dotted with both triumphs and setbacks. Contemporary history comes into play, too, providing a compelling socio-cultural backdrop that enriches the emotional dimensions. Once Ruth and Midnight meet, and their stories intersect, we’re taken into an even deeper look into their selves as they navigate their personal journeys in the context of this new relationship. The Kindest Lie delivers so much bittersweet beauty and is sure to touch your heart.
5 stars
I just finished an amazing debut novel, The Kindest Lie, by Nancy Johnson. I think this book could have the power that To Kill a Mockingbird had in the 1960’s. Johnson explores, race, poverty, teenage pregnancy, grandparents raising their grandchildren, and more in this book that takes place after the 2008 election. The main character, Ruth, left a small manufacturing town in Northwest Indiana on a scholarship to Yale. As an engineer she is married to a successful husband, Xavier. A successful couple living o. The south side of Chicago and a few years of marriage, Xavier brings up the subject of having children. This throws Ruth into a tizzy. Ruth needs to tell him that she had a child when she was seventeen. Xavier sends her home to figure out her life.
This book has so many layers. Once I started reading, I was totally under the spell of this story. Everyone makes mistakes, has secrets, and constantly trying to figure out life. I loved the characters, their faults and their kindness. I know my bookclub composed of present and retired high school teachers in northern Indiana is going to love this book. I can’t wait to discuss! Thank you Harper Collins and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. The opinions in this review are my own.
This is not just a book about a family, it is a book about America. It is very well written and amazing as a debut novel.
This is a very good book that covers race, motherhood, and finding out where one belongs. Ruth is a happily married woman who is an engineer. Her husband wants to start a family but Ruth gave up a child as a teenager to be able to go to college. Ruth goes home to resolve her past. There she meets trouble white teenager Midnight. As their stories intertwine, each sees their hometown from different points of view. I enjoyed this book and its characters. This is a book that will stay with me for quite a while. I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.
I love the themes of this book about complicated family relationships, sacrifice, and the heavier issues of race and class in America. The story revolves around three extended families living in rural Ganton, Indiana. The main character, Ruth has finally opened up to her husband and best friend about the child she birthed and then gave up when she was a senior in high school. She is now living in Chicago, but goes home to Ganton to try and find answers and make peace with her past. Did she make the right mistake? Was she being selfish or did this choice enable her to have a chance at a better life? Could her husband ever forgive her for not telling him about the baby? Could she ever forgive herself? Ruth has been gone almost 11 years with the exception of her wedding that was almost 4 years ago. She ends up staying with her mother and older brother and sleeping in her childhood bed, which brings back a lot of memories. She becomes friends with a sweet, but somewhat lost 11 year old white boy named Midnight, as she searches for her own son.. Midnight is a very sympathetic character and provides readers with perspectives of how both poor white children and black children have to compete for resources and struggle to figure out their place in the world. Through Midnight and his black friend, Corey, we see how the different races are treated and how quickly violence can escalate even to young children. It is heartbreaking knowing that black mothers have to have “the talk” with their black sons about how they have to interact with the police and other persons in charge to make sure they stay alive. “Always be polite. Don’t talk back. Keep your hands out of your pockets. make sure they’re visible..” The book reminds us that gangs are all too eager to provide family when children feel like they have none. There are several strong female characters in this book that remind us that mothers have to make sacrifices to try and do what is best for their child/ren There is much more I would add, but I don’t want to spoil the ending. When you finish the book you can truly appreciate one of my favorite lines. “Perfect mothers didn’t exist, only perfectly flawed one (did).” Thank you to #netgalley and Book Club Girl Early Reads for an advanced copy of this book. I look forward to helping promote this important debut novel when it hits the shelves in February.
4 1/2 stars
Mistakes can haunt you for your entire life, especially if you walk away from them.. Ruth Tuttle is learning that. When her husband discovers her secret and they argue. She decides to head back home to confront her biggest error.
This is a good story about good people doing the best they can as they deal with the curve balls that life throws them. I did feel that there was a lot of reputation in this book as Ruth constantly went over what she’d done, why she’d done it, and how it happened. It is sad, but all comes together in the end, leaving Ruth, and the reader, with a sense of hope.
I did like the characters, especially Xavier, Ruth’s husband, and Ernestine, Ruth’s mother. The little boy Ruth befriends, Midnight (Patrick), is a confused little boy caught in the middle of several bad situations. He’s smart. He wants to be good, but it’s hard when he has no one to teach and guide him. He’s also terrified that his grandmother and father intend to send him away to live with relatives who are strangers to him.
While the writing is very good, the beginning of the book is top heavy with an overabundance of characters, which slowed down reading. As the story progresses, most of those characters fade into the background, and the tale becomes clearer. Only a handful of those initial characters are present through the body of the work.
This wasn’t my favorite type of novel, but in the end, it was a very good read.
I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. I thank them for their generosity in sharing this book with me, but it had no effect on this review. All opinions in this review reflect my true and honest reactions to reading this book.
The Kindest Lie was a wonderful debut novel. Topics covered include family secrets, race and class. It’s a touching novel about a choice made for loved one, a choice believed to be for the best outcome and the impacts it had on the family. Did the benefits of the choice outway the cost? How does keeping a secret impact the rest of the family? The story also touches on race and the opportunities that exist or don’t based on race and perceptions.
The characters, emotions and relationships were well developed. This story will stick with me! I look forward to Nancy’s next novel.
This is a beautifully written book that has both pain and hope woven in its words. It’s a story of mothers – those that birthed us, those that raised us and even those that step into our lives for a moment when we need them. It’s a story of race relations told through the eyes of 11-year-old boys. And, it’s a story of how no matter what, we have more that binds us than tears us apart.
I held off reading this book, knowing that I needed to give it the time it deserved, knowing that when I finally fell into this book, I wasn’t going anywhere else.
The Kindest Lie by debut author Nancy Johnson is a gift to be savored. It is meant to be read and reread. I read the story of Ruth and Midnight slowly. I learned their secrets; I absorbed the racial injustices that came their way in the only way a white woman can.
The Kindest Lie saddened me because we still have so far to go, yet it also gave me hope because stories like this are meant to help us find our way.
I really appreciated this book by Nancy Johnson, which is a story about motherhood, secrets, and more. It was fascinating to see the plot take shape through the dual perspectives of Ruth and Midnight. Having the different points of view really allows for a deeper take on things.
I’m grateful for this entertaining journey of one woman’s discovery of her past—and herself. There are a lot of key points about race and class in this novel, which made me pause and ponder.
A great book with distinctive characters that promotes reflection about society and ourselves.
Loved this book. Subject hard but authentically told. One more take of many women, caught in pregnancy too young and all the conflicts unfold.
A poor young woman who gets pregnant and reluctantly gives up her child so she can have a better future comes to have regrets and returns home to find him. It’s a familiar and reliably heart-tugging story. Johnson skillfully freshens up this archetype of women’s fiction by placing it smack within the racial, feminist and economic issues of the here and now. The story opens the day Obama is elected president. Ruth is brilliant and black. Her opportunity is a Yale scholarship that has led to a successful and enviable career, marriage and lifestyle. The home she returns to is poor, the family estranged from her because of it. Johnson effectively takes what could be a predictable story and turns it into a surprising exploration of a family to which Ruth’s opportunity means more than she could know, and how each of its members have conspired to make her painful decision the proudest, best–and kindest–choice for all of them.
The Kindest Lie is a soul-stirring, vividly told saga that demands to be read! Johnson presents a story with dazzling prose and textured, complicated characters that haunt you long after you’ve closed the book. It’s hard to believe The Kindest Lie is Johnson’s debut as it’s told with such an assured voice and graceful conviction. I thoroughly enjoyed and HIGHLY recommend!