The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson – 336 pages

Book Blurb:

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.

My Review: 4 stars

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The Kindest Lie gave me an insider’s look into a black couple’s marriage, their secrets and their dreams. Honestly, when this book first came out, the cover art led me to assume that this was a rom-com because of the graphic. When I realized that Johnson is a Chicago author, I checked out the book and learned that this was everything but a rom-com. It was a serious look at the black culture, where you come from and where you’re going, racial injustices, guilt, family ties, friendships, financial hardships and marriage.

Ruth, our main protagonist, has been married for several years, yet has never told her husband that she gave up a baby when she was 17 years old. Her omission of this became like a festering wound of guilt, especially when her husband is itching to start a family. Thus, her trek back to her hometown in Indiana to locate her son ensues as does a Pandora’s box of secrets and lies.

Johnson’s Chicago references were on point, her ability to create relatable yet deeply flawed characters was strong and her storytelling had excellent pacing. I look forward to reading what’s next.

Quotes I liked:

Life is change — if nothing’s changing, you aren’t living.”

“I find places like this so packed with memories. Visiting them can be like opening a memory jar. You take off the lid and the smells and sounds of a place hit you, unlocking things folded away deep in your brain.”

“Be a good companion to yourself and you will never be lonely.”