20 in 2014: Book 5

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As the end of summer nears, a new crop of parents prepare to send their little ones to kindergarten at Pirriwee Public School. A school set with a cast of characters, each playing an internally scripted role in an attempt to appease the perceived expectations of others. A story about lies: the ones we tell ourselves, the ones we perform for others, and the ones that simmer just below the surface, ready to erupt at any moment. 3 very different women, 2 sides to every story, and 1 murder investigation.

As she enters a room, most people can’t help but stare at her exquisite beauty. Married to an extraordinarily wealthy business man and mom to two “perfect” twin boys, Celeste lives a life many jealously long for. However, she hides secrets that eat away at her every single day and she is not the woman people think she is. Madeline is the first to help others: often having the missing piece of an art project or the perfect piece of advice; however, she struggles to co-parent her teenage daughter with her ex-husband. An ex-husband who has since remarried and is also preparing to send a child to the same kindergarten. Jane is new to the area and feels like an outsider in every way: her clothes, her rental home, and her single mom status. It isn’t until a tragic murder occurs at a school function that each woman’s secrets are revealed and lies unearthed.

The truth unravels like an intricately woven ball, each layer revealing another set of truths. As the women learn the whole truth, each wishes she would have asked questions, noticed the signs, done…something. Some lies are perfumed in hopes of being uncovered, small purposeful slips in hopes of someone seeing the truth. Others are performed masterfully, the lie so interconnected with the truth no one would ever have known. Ultimately, the foundation of each of the woman’s lies comes from a similar place, a place that connects them in unforeseen ways. Fantastic book.

20 in 2014: Book Four

A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One delicately woven scarf. Two women generations apart connected by a shared thread of tragedy. A tale of love lost and redefined.

September 1911: Clara Wood has found refuge from her tragic past on Ellis Island caring for immigrants too ill to gain passage to the United States. It isn’t until the brightly colored scarf on a passing patient catches her eye that she begins to rethink the events that drove her from Manhattan. As she cares for this man, she finds herself in a moral quandary, the truth of which ends up mimicking her life once again…

September 2011: As NYC prepares to honor the tenth anniversary of 9/11, widow Taryn Michaels is forced to confront the truth of the events that forever changed her life in a matter of seconds. One phone call, one late meeting…destiny or selfishness? Had her choices on that harrowing day cost her the love of her life? A long-lost camera is found and Taryn’s quiet “in-between” life is rocked. On that camera, a picture of her standing before the tumbling towers wearing a scarf. The pattern of which has haunted her, a textile expert, she has spent the last ten years searching for fabric similar to no avail. As she relives the terror of that day, she discovers truths she never imagined.

I devoured this book in one sitting. I could not put it down. Two seemingly different stories are so beautifully woven together, much like the threads of the scarf that is the centerpiece of this novel. A beautiful, charming, poignant read.