Diane Chamberlain had me at The Midwife’s Confession. While I haven’t caught up with all her books I am working at it. She takes snippets of history and weaves some wonderful stories. I’ll confess that after reading a couple flips of my kindle screen I actually sighed, it felt like being back with old friends ready for an adventure that I would love.

Big Lies in a Small Town is a hefty title, the theme is obvious and it delivered on all levels. I started Tuesday and finished Friday which lately for me is good, especially coming in at 400 pages. It’s a slow burn as the 2 storylines play out. The character development was spot on, not only for the main players but for others as well. I saw what made them tick and why.

The plot was intricate and unique as it revolves around a time and place where prejudices ran amuck. The research is evident and the author's writing style is why she is a favorite of mine.

Big Lies in a Small Town is a richly detailed story of secrets and lies, mental health, injustice, racism, abuse and more. It’s about connecting two time periods with a conclusion that I loved (while unexpected).

This book will hit bookshelves January 14th, 2020 - perfect to beat away the winter blues.

My sincere thanks to Naureen at St. Martin’s press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I received this ARC through Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Netgalley.com, to St. Martins Press, and to Diane Chamberlain for this opportunity.

As always, Diane Chamberlain's writing and research are flawless. She beautifully portrays two different time periods in the same town. We take a journey with Morgan as she digs into the past of the mural that she is being paid to restore. It has a history that is so much more rich than she ever imagined.

I enjoyed this book as I do all of Diane Chamberlain's writings. This one dragged a bit for me when it got into the process of restoration, but I think that was just me personally. I also wasn't a huge fan of the ending. Although, if a second book is in the plan, then this would easily be rectified. Overall, a great read.

A story of redemption.

In 2018 Morgan Christopher is released on parole. A lawyer has gotten her out at the earliest possible date because she is in the will of a famous artist - Jesse Williams. The will stipulates that Morgan is to restore a huge mural by August 5th. One tiny problem - Morgan has no experience in art restoration. The mural is 12 FEET x 6 feet, and the deadline is 2 months away.

In 1940 Anna Dale wins a national contest to create a mural for a US Post Office. Small problem - she won for Edenton, NC instead of her hometown of Plainfield, NJ. Anna travels to Edenton and ends up staying. She befriends Jesse, an African-American teenager with amazing artistic talent. Anna undergoes some trials and tribulations while living in small town Edenton, and eventually disappears, the mural never hung.

Both storylines are equally compelling and come to a satisfying conclusion at the end of the book. Both storylines end with forgiveness and redemption. You can't face your future if you can't let go of your past. I've never read one of Chamberlain's books, but this definitely won't be the only one.

Thank you to NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Quite honestly, I'm 49% of the way through and this book STILL doesn't have me fully engaged. I have really enjoyed the other Chamberlain books I have read, so I had high expectations that this would be just as amazing, from start to finish. I stuck with this book longer than I normally do with a book, and one day, I hope to finish it. But frankly, the subject matter isn't that engaging to me. While I do appreciate the characters being well-developed, the plot is a fairly slow, dragging read.

Diane Chamberlain is one my all time favorite authors and I was so excited to receive an ARC of Big Lies in a Small Time from NetGalley. I devoured this story! Morgan is summoned from prison where she’s serving time for a crime that continues to haunt her by the daughter of a famous artist. Her job is to restore a mural started decades ago by an unknown artist (Anna) who has all but disappeared. Both Anna and Morgan’s stories are so beautifully told and I couldn’t wait to find out what brings them together. Such a great book- 5 stars!

“Big Lies in a Small Town” left me wanting more because it was such a well written, intriguing book, I just didn’t want it to end. It took me a bit to get used to the swapping between two different stories in two different time periods, the 1940s and 2018, but once I was hooked I couldn’t stop reading it.

A well written, researched art mystery. Alone in the world a young northern woman accepts a job in the prejudice south.

I’ve never read a book from the author but wow this was amazing. Very emotional and heart wrenching. I would recommend this one for readers interest in historical fiction.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book as an ARC. Let me start by saying I just love Diane Chamberlain and her books. I found her by accident many years back and have looked forward to her new books everytime one comes out.. If you aren't aware she is a Clinical Social Worker by profession, as am I, so I am sure that even more draws me to her. In her new nove Big Lies in a Small Town I was not disappointed. I enjoyed the going back in forth in time between Morgan and Anna and seeing how things have changed over time. I did figure out the ending in advance but it was still sweet to get to that part and see how everything came together. I would definitely recommend another great read by this fabulous author.

Diane Chamberlin has done it again!! Big Lies in a Small Town is two stories in one where two women's lives decades apart are intertwined and the present day character unravels some deep dark secrets. Both 'main' characters were well developed and perserved under difficult circumstances. Their stories were woven together seamlessly to create an intense, powerful saga that grabbed and held the reader even beyond the last page. A must read!

This book was not at all what I expected and I am so glad that I picked it up! This story is told from two different viewpoints and in two different time periods. The modern day story not only focuses on Morgan but also on her discovering the mystery of Anna and her life. While the story set in the 1930's is Anna's story. This story immediately pulled me and I couldn't wait to discover Anna's secret. Overall an enjoyable work of historical fiction but with the added bonus of a mystery. I only wish there had been a few more pages at the end to see how things worked out with Morgan but I guess the author left what happened up to the reader's imagination.

I was excited when I was lucky enough to get this book, I am a big fan of this author and enjoyed all her books but sadly this just wasn't for me. I couldn't get into the story line or the characters and did a lot of skim reading just to get to the end.

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

I really enjoyed this book. Piecing together the mysterious mural, with the story of Anna kept me turning pages way past my bedtime! I loved the connection between Morgan and Anna coming to life was very interesting.

Read this book when you have time to put everything else aside. As the narration shifts back and forth between Anna, artist from the 1940's who's left behind a bizarre mural, and Morgan, current-day young woman who has been rescued to restore the mural when she has no training in restoration, the mystery of why Anna inserted such strange elements into the painting intensifies. The blonde Morgan wonders throughout most of the novel just why and how the famed black artist she never met chose her as one of his "projects".
Readers are rewarded with a satisfactory solution to all mysteries.

In this story we delve into the lives of Anna Dale 1939 and Morgan Christopher 2018. The story is told in alternating points of view from different time frames and is tied together by a single painting.

Morgan is serving time in prison when she is presented with a too good to be true opportunity. The artist Jesse Jameson has passed away and left instructions in his will that Morgan should restore an unfinished mural. In exchange for her work she is offered an early release from prison and a payment of $50k for restoring the painting. The restoration has a deadline that is concrete and there is a lot at stake if it’s not completed on time. Morgan has no prior experience and doubts her own abilities to complete the task she’s been challenged with. Why has Jesse chosen her of all people????

Anna Dale is the artist selected in a contest to complete the original mural that is to be completed and installed on a wall in a post office in Edmonton, North Carolina. Anna is from New Jersey and knows little, if nothing at all about the town she has been selected to portray. The local town folk aren’t too happy to have one of their own overlooked as the artist. He has lost out in the contest to an outsider that knows nothing of their town. Can she depict their town accurately not knowing anything about it??? A northerner painting and depicting a southern town??

These two ladies lives come full circle and entwine in this wonderful story. For me Anna Dale is the heroine but by the end Morgan Christopher earns the readers respect and admiration and rounds the story out for a perfect closure.

There are so many elements to each woman’s personal life that has the reader completely engrossed and eagerly flipping pages.

Many thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of this great book.

Big Lies in a Small Town is the dual timeline narrative revolving around an art mural commissioned after the Great Depression to hang in the post office of Edenton. Anna Dale, a Art school graduate and single young woman relocated to the small town shortly after her mother died and she is notified that she has won a contest to create this mural. In the present day, Morgan, is released early from prison with a twist of fate that forces here to restore this mural by Anna Dale. What she uncovers brings her more questions than answers. What happened to Anna Dale? This book has brought me out of my reading slump! As with a typical Diane Chamberlain book, I seem to internalize her characters and their conflicts, and they always leave me thinking. I really the story of Anna Dale and highly recommend it. I received an ARC of this book, all opinions are my own.

Excellent book! As usual, the author does a wonderful job enveloping the reader into the atmosphere of the story. Recommended!

I want to start off by thanking St Martin's Press and Netgalley for giving me an ARC of this book for an honest review.

This book takes place in alternate time periods. It takes place in 2018 with Morgan Christopher striking a deal to restore an old mural in time for a grand opening of a gallery. The other time period is 1940 when Anna Dale wins a contest to paint a mural for a town to put up in the post office. Anna Dale doesnt know what she is getting herself into when she accepts this job.

This book was filled with a lot of mystery and exciting characters. I loved the writing and how Diane Chamberlain just grasped me from the beginning and I just couldn't put this down. Well worth the read.

I don't have the words to write here as to how this book made me feel. I absolutely loved it. Wow. Now Diane is one of my favourite authors anyway but this book was simply great. Now the book switches from person to person which I don't normally like, however the lives of the two people intertwine which makes it flow perfectly. I loved the characters and their stories.
The prison scenes are set and delivered well and so is the thoughts and desperate feelings of morgan. The end of the story is a lovely little twist too....Thank you.

I have read Diane Chamberlain books in the past and always enjoyed them. I have to admit that at first I found this one a little hard to get into, but having read reviews and knowing the author I kept at it and I am so glad I did! Around a third of the way in the book picked up for me and by half way through I just could not put it down or get the characters out of my thoughts. Morgan has been in jail for a DUI (which she did not actually commit) and is let out on the proviso that she restores an old mural, left by a famous artist that she covets; but she is bewildered as to why he has seeked her of all people out to restore the mural for his new art gallery. The request that she restores it by a certain date or risks going back to prison is one left by the artist in his will and brought to Morgan by his somewhat cold-hearted daughter, Lisa. Alongside Morgan’s story, the story of the original artist of the mural unfolds, Anna Dale. She tells her story from the 1930’s and is gripping as the story unfolds of her life and how the mural came to be in the hands of the artist and how it is in a state of disrepair. There are many layers to this book, but so beautifully written that you never feel lost or have to think at all about how it comes together. I am so glad I gave this book a chance. I was a little stunned at the end by all the revelations, I just didn't want it to end when it did, and I hope that there may be a possibility of a sequel in future.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC of this beautiful novel.