Book Review: Big Lies in a Small Town | Diane Chamberlain

Two women born at different times are linked through history by a mysterious will. A perfect blend of two stories separated by decades in a small North Carolina town.

About the Book | Big Lies in a Small Town

North Carolina, 2018: Morgan Christopher’s life has been derailed. Taking the fall for a crime she did not commit, she finds herself serving a three-year stint in the North Carolina Women’s Correctional Center. Her dream of a career in art is put on hold—until a mysterious visitor makes her an offer that will see her released immediately. Her assignment: restore an old post office mural in a sleepy southern town. Morgan knows nothing about art restoration, but desperate to leave prison, 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, an artist from New Jersey, wins a national contest to paint a mural for the post office in Edenton, North Carolina. Alone in the world and desperate for 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? (Synopsis from Goodreads)

Review | Big Lies in a Small Town

A story of two artists in a small North Carolina town, separated by 78 years and a third who ties their stories together. Jesse Jameson Williams is a prominent African American artist with roots in the small town of Edenton, North Carolina. When Jesse passes away in 2018, he leaves an unusual will behind. Morgan Christopher is an artist serving time for a car accident that left the other driver paralyzed.

After Morgan is released on early parole (helped in part by Jesse’s daughter), she receives $50,000 to restore a mural painted by another artist—Anna Dale—in 1940. Morgan learns the mural must be complete before a gallery opening on August 5 of the same year, or the deal is off and Jesse’s daughter will (for unclear reasons outlined in the will) lose her childhood home.

In the alternate timeline taking place in 1940 in the same town of Edenton, Anna Dale is an artist from New Jersey who has won a competition by the U.S. Treasury Department to paint a mural for the Edenton post office. Anna has little experience with the South, but sees Jesse’s incredible talent as an artist and mentors him. This relationship causes waves among the white population of Edenton.

The book deals heavily with topics of addiction, mental illness, gender, and race. I loved the way Anna and Morgan’s stories mirrored one another. The focus on the process of creating art was central to both timelines and thoroughly engrossing. The stories are rich with detail and draw on the emotions of the reader as they relate to the characters in the book. Sometimes with dual timeline I prefer one story over another, but in this case both were fairly evenly matched in terms of my interest. I enjoyed the back and forth as the story unfolded.

Thank you to St Martins Press for my copy. Opinions are my own.

About the Author | Diane Chamberlain

Diane Chamberlain is the New York Times, USA Today and (London) Sunday Times best-selling author of 28 novels. The daughter of a school principal who supplied her with a new book almost daily, Diane quickly learned the emotional power of story. Although she wrote many small “books” as a child, she didn’t seriously turn to writing fiction until her early thirties when she was waiting for a delayed doctor’s appointment with nothing more than a pad, a pen, and an idea. She was instantly hooked.

Diane was born and raised in Plainfield, New Jersey and lived for many years in both San Diego and northern Virginia. She received her master’s degree in clinical social work from San Diego State University. Prior to her writing career, she was a hospital social worker in both San Diego and Washington, D.C, and a psychotherapist in private practice in Alexandria, Virginia, working primarily with adolescents.

More than two decades ago, Diane was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, which changed the way she works: She wrote two novels using voice recognition software before new medication allowed her to get back to typing. She feels fortunate that her arthritis is not more severe and that she’s able to enjoy everyday activities as well as keep up with a busy travel schedule.

Diane lives in North Carolina with her significant other, photographer John Pagliuca, and their odd but lovable Shetland Sheepdog, Cole.