Truth andand Otherother Lies

Maggie Smith, Ten16 Press (MAR 8) Softcover $18.99 (356pp) 978-1-64538-262-1, GENERAL

In Maggie Smith’s novel Truth and Other Lies, three driven women make life-altering decisions about the secrets they’ve kept in order to get ahead.

Megan, a young, liberal journalist, moves back into her overprotective mother’s Chicago home after being fired from a reporting job. Her mother, Helen, has a surprise for her: she’s running for a Congress seat as a pro-life Republican. This puts a pause on Megan’s journalism career: no newspaper will hire the daughter of a political candidate to dispense unbiased reports.

But after Megan attends a feminist rally and punches a skinhead in defense of a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Jocelyn, she’s hired to be part of Jocelyn’s public relations team. There’s buzz churning about Jocelyn’s forthcoming memoir. An anonymous tweet calls her integrity into question, turning Megan’s job into a nightmare. In her off hours, she’s tenacious about sniffing out the source of the tweet; she finds out the ugly truth behind Jocelyn’s prolific career—as well as a dark piece of Helen’s past. Megan pitches the scoop to local newspapers, and is forced to decide whether her career or her mother’s is more valuable to her.

The story moves at a quick pace, with shocking secrets revealed at every turn. Though Megan is grating at first, arguing with her mother and expecting to be handed a newspaper job, she comes into her own as a strong woman and tough reporter by the book’s end. Indeed, each person in the novel is authentic—both complicated and flawed. Even the conclusion avoids tidy solutions in favor of open-ended optimism and a look toward the future.

In the thrilling novel Truth and Other Lies, a young reporter works to uncover the truth, which could have ruinous implications for others.