Book: Big Lies in a Small Town

 Book: Big Lies in a Small Town

Author: Diane Chamberlain

Pages: 400

This is my 140th read for the year

This is the story of 2 people.  Morgan - who is 2018 is trying to pick up her life after being in jail for hurting someone in a car accident.  An accident where she wasn't the driver, but she was charged anyway.  She has been asked to restore an old mural.  The owner of the mural has recently passed away and in his will Morgan is named as the only person he wants to restore it to fulfill the will's requirements.  The other player is Anna Dale.  In 1940 she is chosen as part of a contest to pain a mural in a sleepy North Carolina town.  She finds deep prejudice in this town and she as a woman and an outsdier cannot quite fit in or be accepted - even for the short time she is there to commission the work.  When tragedy strikes, Anna finds herself fleeing her work and fighting for her life.

This was a really good book.  I have read a few of Chamberlain's novels and have enjoyed most of them.  I liked both of the women - Morgan and Anna.  I liked a lot of the supporting characters as well.  It is well written and the flow from one timeline to the next and then the tie of the two together flowed nicely.  The ending was basically satisfactory.  It does end on a bit of a cliff hanger, but one that was soft and of course would not lead to a further story.  It just wasn't going to be a part of the bigger story, so I can understand why the author ended it that way.  There is a love story, and it does get a little cheesy, but not overly so.  Also - there is a trigger warning with this one (rape).

Overall a good read and I am very glad I read it.

Stars: 4.5