The novel explores race, class, identity, and the pursuit of the American dream. Nancy Johnson is the author of the debut novel THE KINDEST LIE, which is available now everywhere books are sold! This is the story of an unlikely connection between an Ivy League-educated Black engineer searching for the son she walked away from and a poor, young white boy who finds himself adrift in a dying Indiana factory town. Powerful and revealing, The Kindest Lie captures the heartbreaking divide between Black and white communities and offers both an unflinching view of motherhood in contemporary America and the never-ending quest to achieve the American Dream. Just as Ruth is about to uncover a burning secret her family desperately wants to keep hidden, a traumatic incident strains the town’s already searing racial tensions, sending Ruth and Midnight on a collision course that could upend both their lives.

As she begins digging into the past, she unexpectedly befriends Midnight, a young white boy who is also adrift and looking for connection. Returning home, Ruth discovers the Indiana factory town of her youth is plagued by unemployment, racism, and despair. She had promised her family she’d never look back, but Ruth knows that to move forward, she must make peace with the past. She has never gotten over the baby she gave birth to-and was forced to leave behind-when she was a teenager. He’s eager to start a family, but Ruth is uncertain. In Chicago, Ruth Tuttle, an Ivy-League educated Black engineer, is married to a kind and successful man. It’s 2008, and the inauguration of President Barack Obama ushers in a new kind of hope.

The kindest lie a novel