BOOK REVIEW
Maya and Rebecca Ward are sisters who share many secrets. They both have medical degrees and they both share the memory of their parents’ brutal murder. The Lies We Told reveals that all people have secrets and some secrets are those that we don’t even tell the ones closest to us because of the pain that those secrets hold. Diane Chamberlain’s latest novel reveals the complicated nature of the relationship that sisters have and the secrets that they keep; secrets that will either bind them together or tear them apart.
Maya was fourteen and Rebecca eighteen when they witnessed their parents’ brutal murders. As a result of that tragedy, Maya becomes timid and cautious and Rebecca a risk taker. After a devastating hurricane hits the coast of North Carolina, Rebecca and Maya’s husband, Adam, urge Maya to join them in the relief effort with Doctors International Disaster Aid (DIDA). To please her husband, Maya agrees. Maya is on a helicopter transport to a nearby hospital when the helicopter crashes into powerful floodwaters and there appear to be no survivors. After a two week attempt to locate any survivors, Rebecca and Adam must accept that Maya is gone. As time passes, they turn to one another for comfort and then find themselves romantically attached. Meanwhile, miles from civilization, Maya is alive. She is rescued by strangers whom she is sure is not sure she can trust. She struggles to make her way home not realizing that her life is forever changed.
Diane Chamberlain writes in the first chapter that every family has a story filled with secrets unknown to outsiders. In addition, each member of the family holds their own secrets. The problem with secrets is that they are “the lies we tell others” and “we tell ourselves.” We all keep secrets for several different reasons. One is to protect ourselves and the other is to protect the ones we love. The problem with secrets is that they have a way of coming out and usually when we least expect them to and Chamberlain reveals that we can never really hide from those secrets because they continue to tear us apart inside. She describes the memory of Maya and Rebecca’s parents’ death as “unfinished business” because there was a lot “left unsaid between” them. The circumstances of that murder unfold when Maya and Rebecca are forced that accept what has happened; Rebecca believing that Maya is forever lost, and Maya seeing life in a way she never anticipated.
You can read an excerpt from the book at Diane Chamberlain’s website.
Diane Chamberlain’s The Lies We Told is available through, Amazon, Indie Bound and most book stores including Barnes and Noble.
MY THOUGHTS
The Lies We Told is an amazing story about two sisters, who as different as they are, are bond by the witnessing the murder of their parents. Diane Chamberlain reveals bits and pieces of the events that led to the murder of the girls’ parents with each sister carrying around a burden of guilt and personal blame and you will never be able to guess what those secrets are. Moreover, the ending is a shocker but you have to read the book to find out. Diane Chamberlain has become a must read author for me and I am sure you will be hooked by just picking up one of her books. The Lies We Told does not disappoint.
GIVEAWAY
To enter to win a copy of The Lies We Told, please leave a comment letting me know who your favorite fiction author is and your favorite novel by that author. (My favorite is “Black River” by Dean Koontz.) Please leave me an email address so that I am able to contact you. For an additional entry, you can tweet this giveaway to OhBoy_Boys.
This Giveaway will end Friday, June 25, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. so get your entry in by then.
The Winner will be chosen by Random.org. I will post the Winner here and I will you email directly. You will then have 48 hours to claim your Prize. U.S. and Canadian addresses only.
If you want to enter this giveaway, please do so here.
Logo/Images Courtesy of 2010 © Diane Chamberlain, YouTube.com
