Title: The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson
Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: Contemporary, Women’s Fiction
Length: 331 pages
Book Rating: B+
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss
Summary:
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.
Review:
The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson is a heartfelt novel of family, forgiveness and healing.
Ruth Tuttle is happily married with a mostly fulfilling career as a chemical engineer. In 2008, she, her husband Xavier Shaw, and their friends are exuberant that Barack Obama is elected president. With their lives just where they want it to be, Ruth is blindsided by Xavier’s admission he is ready to start a family. Although they both agreed they would eventually have kids, she has never imagined that day actually arriving. Not wanting to cause problems, Ruth tries to hide her reluctance from Xavier but he notices her lack of enthusiasm. He confronts the issue head on and she is forced to tell him that she is already a mother. With their marriage on the line, Ruth returns to her small hometown to ask her grandmother “Mama” the identity of her son’s adoptive parents.
Raised her beloved grandparents, Ruth is an excellent student with a bright future ahead of her when she falls pregnant. Ruth, her brother Eli and Mama manage to conceal her pregnancy and after a home birth, she leaves for college. Mama takes care of the adoption and has remained tight-lipped about it over the years. Ruth put the experience behind her and tries to forget about her son.
But when she reveals her secret to Xavier, Ruth decides to confront the past she has never forgotten nor come to terms with. She rarely returns to visit her brother or grandmother and she does not talk much about her childhood. She heads back to Ganton where she meets Mama’s best friend Lena’s grandson Patrick “Midnight” Boyd. Midnight is temporarily living with Lena and he spends a lot of time unsupervised. Something about the young boy tugs on her heartstrings and Ruth tries to help him as much as she can.
Ruth is frustrated by Eli and Mama’s refusal to tell her anything about her son’s adoption. She is undeterred and tries to find him on her own. Impatient with bureaucratic red-tape, Ruth continues her search on her own. She stumbles across stunning information but will she uncover her son’s identity?
Rife with issues dealing with race and poverty, The Kindest Lie is a riveting novel with a socially relevant storyline. Ruth is a vibrantly developed woman who harbors regrets about her past decisions. Midnight’s situation deteriorates and his frustrations put someone else in jeopardy. With an emotional dénouement, Nancy Johnson brings this thought-provoking debut to a realistic conclusion. I greatly enjoyed and highly recommend this captivating novel to fans of the genre.
