The Kindest Lie Review

Title: The Kindest Lie
Author: Nancy Johnson
Style: Contemporary Fiction, Literary Fiction
Rating: 4/5

“A lie could be kind to you if you wanted it to be, if you let it.”

Ruth is a Black Ivy League graduate and married to a successful Black engineer. When conversations begin about starting a family Ruth is thrust back into the past where she got pregnant at seventeen.  Her grandmother and brother decide to take care of things and take her newborn son to be adopted shortly after his birth. Ruth knows that before she can start her family with her husband she needs to confront her past and find out what happened to her child.  When she returns home she befriends a white boy named Midnight who lost his month as a young child who is just looking for connection.  

A stunningly beautiful debut novel! The story was thought provoking. It covered some pretty deep and difficult topics involving race and racism.  This definitely a character driven novel. I absolutely loved all the characters.  They felt raw, emotional and real. There were times I felt that the story was a bit slow but overall I really enjoyed it and I look forward to more novels by this author.