The Kindest Lie: A Novel

Written by Nancy Johnson

Narrated by Shayna Small

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Feb 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9780063005662

Nancy Johnson

A native of Chicago’s South Side, Nancy Johnson worked for more than a decade as an Emmy-nominated, award-winning television journalist at CBS and ABC affiliates nationwide. A graduate of Northwestern University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she lives in downtown Chicago and manages brand communications for a large nonprofit. Her first book, The Kindest Lie, was a Book of the Month Club selection and a Target Book Club pick.

Reviews for The Kindest Lie

[Karime Rodriguez · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Nancy Johnson’s debut album! So beautiful. It goes much deeper than a woman’s search for her child. A beautiful story of race, identity, social issues, and blacks in America. I will now read anything she writes!

[Kim · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I highly enjoyed thia book. Go pick it up now!!!!

[CC · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A touching story that interweaves the lives of two families in a small town so beautifully. Issues of race, class, gender and generational trauma all converge in a wonderful debut novel. It's worth the read.

[Danielle Brown · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I stumbled upon this book as a suggestion from another book that I read. I am very glad that I chose to read this book. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I wanted more at the end. I was actually hoping that somehow midnight ended up with Ruth. Overall a good story 3.89 stars out of 5

[Thandeka Mtshali · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The storyline was a good start, I didn’t like how the main character was handling some of the things that were coming up, found her selfish.

Not sure of the voices reading the book, maybe because I’m not used to US accents took a while a for me to get into it and not focus too much on the accents.

[Tatiana iakobson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

the person preforming this novel is an absolute star- enhanced characters and personified then

[bookwyrmm_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Honestly, just a very average story - nothing stood out really, good or bad.

[bookconcierge · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Book on CD narrated by Shayna Small3*** Ruth Tuttle is a chemical engineer married to a marketing executive and living the good life in Chicago. Obama has just been elected President and Ruth’s husband feels the time is right for them to start a family. But Ruth isn’t so sure. What Xavier doesn’t know is that she had a child when she was in high school and gave up that child so she could continue her education. Now she feels she needs to go back to Ganton, Indiana and confront her family about what happened to her baby. There’s a good premise here and some interesting family dynamics, but I thought Johnson relied too much on the secrets and failed to make sense of the present. Ruth is supposed to be this brilliant scientist and yet she behaves just as impulsively as Midnight, the young white boy she befriends. I get that this is an emotionally fraught situation, but she doesn’t seem to ever sit and think things through before acting. And I was really bothered by the situation with Midnight, a child who desperately needs parenting. I can understand why he acts out as he does – he’s just a kid and lacks stability at home. And I totally get it that children in these kinds of situations rarely have a happy ending. But Johnson seems to just drop Midnight’s storyline without so much s a by your leave. Still, Johnson captured my attention early and kept me turning pages (or changing discs). I wanted to know what would happen to these people and how their stories would play out. This is her debut novel, and I think a little more work (and editing) might have made this a very memorable work. Shayna Small does a fine job narrating the audiobook. She has a believable voice for the 10-year-old Midnight, as well as the many adults in the novel.

[nyiper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was an excellent way to show the diversity of black families....and with a white family with problems as a major part of the story. I do wonder how Ruth works out her relationships and what happens to Midnight's grandmother over time, with her medical problems. Yes, these are questions beyond the real point(s) of this novel. Very easy to read, wonderful descriptions that allow the reader to really see what's happening, thanks to Johnson's terrific but somehow very accurate presentations of real life situations.

[tjsjohanna_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This story pulled me in two different directions at once, particularly around the adoption itself. I had a lot of sympathy for the main character and how her choices were made for her. But I was also offended that she thought of her biological child as "her son" when he was obviously part of a different family and the son of a different mother. For much of the novel she is focused not on what might be good for her son but what she thought would be fair for herself. There was a good exploration of what it means to be family and what kinds of actions might be justified in the name of love.

[nancyjcbs · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ruth is the main character in The Kindest Lie. She grew up in a poor, segregated town in Indiana. Her mother abandoned Ruth and her brother Eli due to her drug addiction leaving Ruth's grandparents to raise them. Ruth was highly intelligent, motivated and supported by her grandparents. One wrong romance led to a pregnancy 9 months before she was to leave for Yale. She left her son with her grandmother and pursued her chemical engineering degree.The story opens eleven years later. Ruth has kept the birth of her son a secret but that fact is making it hard for her to start a family with her husband. In order to get on with her life she returns to Ganton, Indiana to find her son and learn what happened to him. There are many deeply sympathetic and deeply problematic characters in this novel. But I throughly enjoyed learning about them and following Ruth's story.

[shazjhb · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Good book. Black and white issues well presented. All enjoyable people. I want to know what to the people.

[ellenh_28 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wow! For a first novel, this woman can really write! A great story & characters and there is so much to think about here; Motherhood, poverty, racism, marriage, friendship, and it's set in Indiana & Chicago with a history of the south for the characters. I started it in the morning meaning to just get a look at it, but it kept calling me back, so I finished it the same day.

[rmarcin-630843 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a powerful book about love, loss, looking forward, looking back, race, privilege, education, and choices. Nancy Johnson has packed a lot into this debut novel. Ruth is a successful black chemical engineer married to a successful man. Her success didn't come easily. When she was 17, she had a child, and her grandmother gave the baby away, saying that this child could not get in the way of Ruth's Ivy League education. Ruth has never told her husband, Xavier, about her son. Now married four years, and on the verge of the first Obama presidency, Xavier is anxious to start their family.Ruth realizes that she must confess this secret to Xavier in order to move forward. Ruth must leave Chicago's South Side and return to her roots in Indiana to try to find her son.While in Indiana, Ruth meets Midnight (Patrick), a young white boy who acts like he is black. She knows that both he and Ruth are searching for love. Ruth confronts her grandmother, her brother, and her friends until she finds the truth about her son, which helps her find the answers she craves.The novel explores the differences in race and privilege, and the choices we make. Outstanding and thought provoking novel.Thanks to Harper Collins, The Book Club Girls, Edelweiss.plus and NetGalley for a copy of this ARC. All opinions are my own, and are given freely.#TheKindestLie #HarperCollins #TheBookClubGirls #Edelweiss #NetGalley.

[brangwinn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow! Searing social commentary and a gripping plot are combined in this story about upward mobility, race, class, and privilege. The world is looking good when Barack Obama is elected for the black community and Ruth and Xavier are ready to celebrate, but when its time to start a family, Ruth must explain she is already a mother. At 17, she gave birth to a son who was adopted by an unknown family. Ruth went on to graduate from Yale and marry a PepsiCo marketing executive, but now her conscious is bothering her, and she returns to her childhood home to find her son. Instead, she finds an 11-year-old white kid named Midnight. Midnight’s mother died in childbirth. Ruth and Midnight’s lives become more and more connected as this story is told in alternating chapters. As Ruth’s grandmother warns, ‘You keep turning up the dirt, you bound to run into a snake one day. And it’s going to bite you. Real hard.”

[bookchickdi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Sometimes you read a book, and you know its going to be one that you will tell everyone about it, until they ask you to please stop. Nancy Johnson's debut novel, The Kindest Lie, is one of those. Ruth Tuttle is a Yale-educated Black engineer at a consumer packaged goods company. She's married to Xavier, a high-level executive at PespiCo. They live in Chicago, and are celebrating the election of Barack Obama with their friends. Life is good, and when Xavier talks of now starting a family with Ruth, she balks. Ruth never told her husband that when she was seventeen, she gave birth to a baby. Her grandmother and older brother Eli took the baby and gave him up for adoption. Ruth left for Yale and it was never spoken of again.Ruth returns home to Indiana, to her hometown of Ganton, whose "very soil was a trapdoor, a gateway to nothingness that few people climbed out of." The author paints a vivid picture of Ganton in that one sentence. The town relied on one big industry, a car manufacturing plant, and when that plant closed, the entire town was decimated.When Ruth stops into a local small store owned by her grandmother's best friend Lena, a white woman, she meets Midnight, Lena's eleven year-old grandson. Midnight's arm was disfigured, and he "stood on the outside of things, bitter, chafed by the unfairness of life". His mother died giving birth to his sister, who also died. His father lost his job at the plant, and spent his time drinking, so Midnight lived mostly with his grandmother.Ruth feels a kinship with Midnight. She and her brother were raised by her grandparents, her mother had a drug problem and left, she never knew her father. Ruth's grandparents sacrificed much to send Ruth to Yale, knowing that she could be successful if she left Ganton.Confronting her grandmother and brother about what happened to her baby does not go well for Ruth. They insist that they did what was best for all involved, and tell her to leave it alone, but she is determined to find her son.The story is told from the viewpoints of Ruth and Midnight. The author succeeds in putting the reader in their shoes, these two characters who have lived such different lives, yet share so much. You feel deeply for everyone, that they are doing the best they can. It is a gift that Nancy Johnson can allow the reader to see each character's side of the story. The Kindest Lie is a heartbreaking, beautifully written novel that tackles race, class and gives us insight into what happens when a small town's industry disappears, the myriad of ways it destroys people. It is a richly developed story, with so much humanity contained within its pages. I think everyone can relate to something in this book. When I can't stop thinking about these characters, I know that I have read something profound that touched me deeply. I give The Kindest Lie my highest recommendation, and encourage everyone to read this book.

[beamis12 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ruth and Xavier, married and living in Chicago, an uo and rising black couple thrilled that Obama has won the Presidency. It's 2008 and they have every reason to feel hopeful. Their future looks bright until Xavier starts pushing to have a family. There is something Ruth has never told him, something in her last that threatens the stability of her psyche and their marriage.A debut novel that confronts racial barriers, injustice, class and wealth disparity. When Ruth returns home to Indiana, hoping to find answers, she leaves her future unsettled. It will be confronting truths and leaning on family ties that may salvage what she has possibly lost.A good start to black history month as it highlights the disparities between races, how they are seen, prejudged, enveloped in a well developed personal story. It was quite good and I look forward to more from this talented, young author.ARC from library thing.

[dablackwood · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I received a copy of The Kindest Lie to review. It was attractive in appearance and I was looking forward to a great read. This book did not satisfy. It was all over the map. It took place right after Obama was elected and that was referenced several times, but it didn’t seem relevant. The characters were stereotypes. I was confused about who was a grandmother and who was a mother. There were a number of peripheral characters who were never really fleshed out. I guess the word I would use to describe the book is superficial. I just couldn’t find a reason to care. Such a disappointment.

[mikitchenlady · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As I write this, it’s 2 days before the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and it feels like this story is even more important now than the time that it begins, on the night of the election of Barrack Obama to the presidency. Ruth, her husband Xavier and their friends celebrate Obama’s election. Ruth is a chemical engineer and Xavier a marketing executive living and working in Chicago. Xavier is ready to start their family, but Ruth is haunted by the child she had and gave away the summer before she started study at Yale University. She finds the courage to tell Xavier what happened, and his feelings of betrayal cause a rift in their marriage. She returns to Ganton, Indiana to find out what happened to her son, but her grandmother (Mama) who raised her and brother Eli will not tell what happened to her son. Refusing to give up, Ruth stays with Mama and Eli in the weeks leading up to Christmas, connecting with a white boy named Midnight, son of a neglectful father and grandson of her mother’s friend. Midnight shares his own story in separate chapters. Ultimately, Ruth discovers that her son is Corey, friend of Midnight, and starts coming to terms with the idea that he is in a happy family. Even though he will face unfair challenges due to the color of his skin, his parents will do their best to help him. We see more about how globalization hasn’t been kind to Ganton, with the main plant closing and families out of work and struggling to make ends meet. Racism is alive and well, exacerbated by the global economic crisis. And this book doesn’t leave us with a happily ever after ending, because that’s not where we were in 2008 or where we are today in 2021. I think many people would benefit from reading Nancy Johnson’s story, as the characters are real, and the story is both emotionally and thought provoking.

[justacatandabook · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Well-written literary fiction that examines racism and class issuesIn 2008, the election of Barack Obama brings a new sense of optimism, especially to the Black community. In the south side of Chicago, Ruth Tuttle and her husband, Xavier, have a nice home and good jobs. Xavier is ready to start a family. But Ruth remains unsure. She cannot get past the baby she gave birth to at seventeen and then gave away. It's a secret she's kept all these years, even from Xavier. When Ruth finally admits what happened, she feels compelled to return home and find out what happened to her child. Her working-class Indiana hometown has seen better days. And her grandmother and brother are unwilling to tell the truth about what happened to her child, holding fast to the idea that they sacrificed so Ruth could have a better life. As Ruth begins investigating on her own, she meets Midnight, a young white teen who is struggling too. The two form an unlikely bond, but it soon may be tested in a town teeming with its own racism issues."A lie could be kind to you if you wanted it to be, if you let it. With every year that passed, it became easier to put more distance between her old life and her new one."This is a beautifully written book that deftly examines the issues of racism and class in America. It sneaks up on you with its wonderfully done story, filled with tenderness and longing. The characters are so excellent, with Midnight and Ruth (and the supporting cast) simply popping off the pages and becoming real as you read. The story is told from both Ruth and Midnight's points of view, giving a depth and insight to the plot, as we hear from both an educated and complex Black women and a scared white kid trying to survive.Johnson does a wonderful job of portraying the struggles of being Black in America: whether you're a college-educated woman such a Ruth, or whether you're her brother Eli, unemployed after the closure of the plant in their hometown, which has basically killed the hope and livelihood of many of the town's residents (both Black and white). The book covers race and class in a thoughtful way--often sad, often touching, and always well-done.This is an excellent book that puts you in the place of its characters. It is thoughtful and timely. 4.5 stars.I received a copy of this book from LibraryThing and William Morrow in return for an unbiased review. It is available on 2/2/2021.

[katiekrug · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

As debut novels go, this isn't The Worst, but I almost gave up on it about a third of the way in. And then again about halfway through. The writing was a bit weak, the dialogue often stilted, and I just felt like Johnson didn't quite have the writing chops for the story she was trying to tell. The novel deals with race and class, broken families, adoption, economic depression, and complicated family relationships. There is a lot going on. The ending was a bit tidy, and while I'm not glad I stuck it out, I don't hate myself for doing so.

[wagner5sarah35 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

*I received a copy of this book through LibraryThing Early Reviewers.*I was really worried when I started this book, that based on the description, things would go badly for this novel's characters. While bad things certainly happen in this novel, multiple tragedies play out and one is narrowly averted, a underlying resilience is present in this book. Ruth Tuttle, Yale-educated, a female engineer, living a successful life in Chicago, represents the hopes of her family, who live in a small, divided Indiana town. As she struggles to uncover what happened to the baby she gave up as a teenager, Ruth befriends a young white boy called Midnight, who is grappling with his own family issues. This novel is one of the most thoughtful and gut-wrenching explorations of race and poverty I've encountered, and yet one that still left me with a small sense of hope.

[susan.h.schofield · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was an excellent debut novel by Nancy Johnson. It takes place in 2008 just after the election of Barack Obama and focuses on Ruth, a successful Black woman in her late twenties, who gave up her son for adoption when she was 17. Her husband wants to start a family and she finally tells him about the child she gave up. She returns to her hometown to find the son she gave up. The book does a great job of covering issues of race, motherhood and family relationships. It would make a great book club selection. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

[felliot-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received an advance reader's edition in exchange for an honest review.No book is perfect, but "The Kindest Lie" by Nancy Johnson is a great book at the perfect time. Starting during the Obama years, the book uses it's main character Ruth to tell the story of modern America. It's the story of family, and family secrets. It's the story of race and class. It's the story of how all that affects and determines the modern American Dream. Johnson's amazing use of voice and characters weaves a story about all of us that everyone should read.

[ecataldi-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Raw and vibrant; this debut novel from Nancy Johnson is a must read. Ruth and Xavier are living their dream life in Chicago - things are going so good that Xavier is talking about kids. He's ready and they're ready financially - the only hold up is Ruth. When she finally tells him the secret that she's kept hidden for eleven years - everything starts to fall apart. Why did she wait so long to tell him and is there any way she can fix the damage done to him and to her own family? Since they're no longer talking she decides to head back to Indiana to stay with her grandma and brother for the holidays. She hasn't seen them since her wedding and she has some serious soul searching to do. Maybe she'll even find the answers to the questions that she's looking for and some answers she didn't even know she needed to discover. A beautiful tale of love, loss, redemption, second chances, and the pursuit of the American dream. Heart wrenching at moments but filled with beautiful and flawed characters that resonate with readers long after they've put the book down.

[mabroms-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Black Lives Matter! The past months and years have convinced a majority of Americans that it is true and it matters for our survival. However, this is just a first step. There has been a plethora of non-fiction literature shooting to the top of the best seller lists during 2020. They are all important. But it is through fiction that many readers find their essence and passion. “The Kindest Lie” by Nancy Johnson, a debut effort by a keen, experienced observer of human nature, is a strong addition to our challenge.There is a multitude of myths used to accept multi-generational oppression: 1) America is the Land of Opportunity, a Meritocracy. 2) Work hard and succeed. 3) America is a Melting Pot. 4) People are color-blind.“The Kindest Lie” starts out with the election of Barack Obama – a Black President. We have overcome the original American sin. We are beyond racism. All men are created equal. And right close by we meet a young Black couple that is really making it – highly educated, great 6-figure incomes, growth opportunities (at least for one), the world at their fingertips. But, guess what? It’s never that easy. Even when it looks like you have partially broken the cycle, you haven’t done it alone. Many, many have come before. You need to have grace, honesty, respect, compassion. You have to understand and thank those that helped you get out and promise to pay it forward for the next generations. Ruth needs to get back to Ganton, Indiana. Ganton has seem some good times, especially when the auto plant was open, unions fought for fair wages and safe jobs, and families could survive. All that is over now, crushed by the War on Drugs, outsourced manufacturing, depressed financial markets. All that is left is most families torn apart by abject poverty, getting by at best day-to-day. Most do better looking backwards when there was hope, rather than looking forward where there seems to be none. Nancy Johnson is clear-eyed in this charged, emotional, and wonderful first novel, but she is optimistic. Everyone needs to know everything about how they got to where they are in order to move forward. There is hope, let there be hope for the children and the country.Thanks to William Morrow and LibraryThing for the DRC. Much appreciated.

[dianne47-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Tells the story of Ruth, who had a baby when she was 17 and gave it up for adoption. After 4 years of marriage she decides to return home and try to find her son. Ruth, who is black, befriends a white boy about her son's age, which leads to her locating her son. Interesting tale of racism, secrets, and the way these affect our lives.

[jgoto_4 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The story follows Ruth, an African American woman, as she searches for the child she gave up for adoption 11 years earlier. In the process she befriends a struggling white boy. I think race was meant to be an important element in the story, but except for the final part of the book it felt very superficial to me. Frankly, I kept forgetting who was black and who was white and was only set straight by seeing who was happy Obama had been elected. The characters of Ruth and her husband were unconvincing, although that improved slightly as the book progressed.

[susan0316 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This beautifully written book begins on the day that Barack Obama changed history with his election as President. The main characters are a successful black couple in Chicago who have been married for four years and he is now ready to start a family. When she admits a secret to him that she has kept from him about her earlier life, the dynamics of their successful marriage begin to deteriorate. She returns to her family living in an area affected by poverty and unemployment to get answers to questions about her earlier life. This book is a hard look at racial prejudice and inequality between economic classes in America but ultimately it's a book about love and hope for a better future.