Big Lies in a Small Town
Diane Chamberlain, 2020
St. Martin's Press
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250087331
Summary
—North Carolina, 2018:
Morgan Christopher's life has been derailed.
Taking the fall for a crime she did not commit, her dream of a career in art is put on hold—until a mysterious visitor makes her an offer that will get her released from prison immediately.
Her assignment: restore an old post office mural in a sleepy southern town. Morgan knows nothing about art restoration, but desperate to be free, she accepts. What she finds under the layers of grime is a painting that tells the story of madness, violence, and a conspiracy of small town secrets.
—North Carolina, 1940:
Anna Dale, wins a national contest to paint a mural for the post office in Edenton, North Carolina.
Living in New Jersey, alone in the world and in great need of work, she accepts. But what she doesn't expect is to find herself immersed in a town where prejudices run deep, where people are hiding secrets behind closed doors, and where the price of being different might just end in murder.
What happened to Anna Dale? Are the clues hidden in the decrepit mural? Can Morgan overcome her own demons to discover what exists beneath the layers of lies? (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1950
• Where—Plainfield, New Jersey, USA
• Education—B.A., M.A., San Diego State University
• Awards—RITA Award
• Currently—lives in North Carolina
Diane Chamberlain is the bestselling American author of some 30 novels, primarily surrounding family relationships, love, and forgiveness. Her works have been published in 20 languages. Her best-known books include The Silent Sister (2014), Necessary Lies (2013), and The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes (2006).
In her own words:
I was an insatiable reader as a child, and that fact, combined with a vivid imagination, inspired me to write. I penned a few truly terrible "novellas" at age twelve, then put fiction aside for many years as I pursued my education.
I grew up in Plainfield, New Jersey and spent my summers at the Jersey Shore, two settings that have found their way into my novels.
In high school, my favorite authors were the unlikely combination of Victoria Holt and Sinclair Lewis. I loved Holt's flair for romantic suspense and Lewis's character studies as well as his exploration of social values, and both those authors influenced the writer I am today.
I attended Glassboro State College in New Jersey as a special education major before moving to San Diego, where I received both my bachelor's and master's degrees in social work from San Diego State University. After graduating, I worked in a couple of youth counseling agencies and then focused on medical social work, which I adored. I worked at Sharp Hospital in San Diego and Children's Hospital in Washington, D.C. before opening a private psychotherapy practice in Alexandria, Virginia, specializing in adolescents. I reluctantly closed my practice in 1992 when I realized that I could no longer split my time between two careers and be effective at both of them.
It was while I was working in San Diego that I started writing. I'd had a story in my mind since I was a young adolescent about a group of people living together at the Jersey Shore. While waiting for a doctor's appointment one day, I pulled out a pen and pad began putting that story on paper. Once I started, I couldn't stop. I took a class in fiction writing, but for the most part, I "learned by doing." That story, Private Relations, took me four years to complete. I sold it in 1986, but it wasn't published until 1989 (three very long years!), when it earned me the RITA award for Best Single Title Contemporary Novel. Except for a brief stint writing for daytime TV (One Life to Live) and a few miscellaneous articles for newspapers and magazines, I've focused my efforts on book-length fiction and am currently working on my nineteenth novel.
My stories are often filled with mystery and suspense, and–I hope–they also tug at the emotions. Relationships – between men and women, parents and children, sisters and brothers – are always the primary focus of my books. I can't think of anything more fascinating than the way people struggle with life's trials and tribulations, both together and alone.
In the mid-nineties, I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, a challenging disease to live with. Although my RA is under good control with medication and I can usually type for many hours a day, I sometimes rely on voice recognition technology to get words on paper. I’m very grateful to the inventor of that software! I lived in Northern Virginia until the summer of 2005, when I moved to North Carolina, the state that inspired so many of my stories and where I live with my significant other, photographer John Pagliuca. I have three grown stepdaughters, three sons-in-law, three grandbabies, and two shelties named Keeper and Jet.
For me, the real joy of writing is having the opportunity to touch readers with my words. I hope that my stories move you in some way and give you hours of enjoyable reading. (With permission from the author's website. Retrieved 6/6/2014.)
Book Reviews
This rich novel from Chamberlain tracks artists whose lives intertwine after a mural is commissioned for a small town.… Chamberlain’s depictions of creative beauty and perseverance across time and in the face of inevitable obstacles will keep readers turning the pages.
Publishers Weekly
Chamberlain's story is a little slow at the start but picks up and becomes a quick and engaging read. Vaguely reminiscent of Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch, this is a good fit for mystery lovers, and the crossover among art, history, and mental health is multifaceted and intriguing. —Chelsie Harris, San Diego Cty. Lib.
Library Journal
A tale of two artists, living 78 years apart in a small Southern town, and the third artist who links them.… One of the strengths here is the creditable depiction of the painter's process…. An engaging, well-researched, and sometimes thought-provoking art mystery.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. How does the prologue introduce us to the novel? What does it leave you wondering about? Did it succeed in making you want to read further?
2. The novel alternates between two time frames and voices—did you feel drawn to the past or present narrative and characters more?
3. Both women suffered terrible and unfair hardship in their lives, can you relate to how they react to it and the choices they make?
4. In the present-day narrative, everyone speculates that Anna lost her mind, and that’s why the mural was finished the way it was. Before what happened to her was revealed, what did you suspect? Were you surprised by what did happen?
5. The novel tackles a lot of tough subject matter within the alternating story-lines. Was there one plot point that resonated with you more than the others?
6. For both of these characters, the mural and art become part of a healing process. For Anna, it is the death of her mother while, for Morgan, it is the accident and time in prison. Is there something similar in your life that has helped you heal from trauma and hardship?
7. As you were reading, did you expect Oliver and Morgan to fall in love? Why or why not? Do you think Oliver is good for Morgan, and vice versa?
8. How did you react to Jesse helping Anna to cover up the murder and in doing so abandoning his life? Do you agree with Anna’s decision to allow him to do so?
9. In chapter 67, Anna and Morgan’s connection is revealed, as is Jesse’s reasoning for requesting that Morgan restore the mural. Did you anticipate this connection?
10. The revelation about Judith Shipley’s true identity is a huge twist at the end of the novel. Did you suspect anything about this? Do you agree with her decision to change her identity completely and start a new life? Would you have come back all those years later?
11. Morgan spends a lot of time thinking about Emily Maxwell and how her actions impacted her life. What do you think about her decision to visit her in the end? Would you have done the same? How do you imagine that visit went?
12. What do you think the future has in store for Morgan?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)