Preview
  • The Kindest Lie

  • A Novel
  • By: Nancy Johnson
  • Narrated by: Shayna Small
  • Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (709 ratings)

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The Kindest Lie

By: Nancy Johnson
Narrated by: Shayna Small
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Publisher's summary

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 Post

Every 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.

©2021 Nancy E. Johnson (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers

Editor's Pick

You can always go home again
The opening of Nancy Johnson’s debut, The Kindest Lie, feels somewhat familiar. It’s election night 2008. The country is struggling in many of the same ways we are today, yet Barack Obama’s election helped usher in a sense of hope for better days to come. So as Ruth and Xavier host a watch party at their home on Chicago’s South Side, the giddiness and joy of the young Black couple is a feeling I remember very well. Living the quote-unquote American Dream, Ruth and her husband seem to have it all—except for a child of their own. Unknown to Xavier, Ruth gave birth when she was 17. Haunted by memories, Ruth travels home to Ganton, Indiana to search for the baby boy she left behind. Shayna Small’s moving performance renders Ruth’s story with care, as she explores what it means to be a mother and the surprising bond she forms with Midnight, an 11-year-old White boy who ultimately brings her closer to her son. Small creates lively and distinct voices for the entire cast, painting a vivid portrait of Ruth’s small midwestern town as she tries to make sense of her troubled past in order to protect the brighter future she so desperately craves. —[Margaret H., Audible Editor]