A Black woman with a career and husband in Chicago returns to her Indiana hometown to learn what happened to the baby she gave up as a teenager. Perspectives alternate between Ruth and a motherless white boy she meets, as their increasingly entangled relationship culminates in a scene that illustrates the dangers faced by young Black boys and men in our society.

An enjoyable mainstream novel delving into issues of motherhood and abandonment, poverty and racism.

Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy, and to the Library Journal Day of Dialog for featuring the author and her book.

I think this is an excellent book for these times. It illustrates the social and racial issues pervasive in America today

It was a very poignant story from the young boys perspectives. Made it very real what poor white boys as well as black boys face ever day.

Highly recommend this book

This story is about choices an educated black woman made as a youth and the inequalities of race and class. I had difficulty relating to the characters and found so many details of heartbreak depressing. The author portrayed the divide between black and white communities and experiences in great detail. I amfinding this a hard topic to spend time in during current events.

“The Kindest Lie” is a novel about abandonment, motherhood and race relations. It is told by two narrators, Ruth Tuttle and Patrick “Midnight” Boyd, both of whom face issues of abandonment. Set in 2008 during the election of Barack Obama as President, it touches on deep seated racial issues

Ruth Tuttle, a 28 year old Black woman was raised by her grandparents in a poverty stricken town after her drug addicted mother abandoned Ruth and her brother Eli. Ruth, who showed herself to be intellectually gifted at an early age, was encouraged by her grandparents emotionally and financially to realize her potential, winning a scholarship to Yale as a result. However, some time after her Grandfather’s death, Ruth becomes pregnant at 17, just months before attending her freshman year at Yale. Ruth’s grandmother keeps the pregnancy a secret, births the boy in their home and spirits him away immediately afterwards. Ruth goes on to Yale, and becomes a successful chemical engineer, marrying Xavier a corporate executive. Ruth never reveals the secret of her son’s birth, but carries feelings of guilt that she abandoned her son as her mother had abandoned her.

Five years after her marriage and 11 years after the birth of her son, Ruth confesses the truth to her husband. In the face of Xavier’s feelings of betrayal, Ruth flees to her hometown, where she reconnects with her grandmother and brother in search of answers to the identify and whereabouts of her son. There she meets “Midnight”, an 11-year-old white boy whose mother died several years before, leaving him to be raised by his maternal grandmother with some sporadic support from his unemployed father. Midnight is a lonely, alienated boy who misses his mother deeply and feels that no other person has loved him since her death. An adrenaline filled scene near the end draws together Ruth, Midnight and Ruth’s son to a confrontation with the central themes of the book—maternal abandonment and the disparate treatment of white and black lives.

Although the narrative feels long and drawn out at times, the characters are richly portrayed in all their complexities, strengths and flaws and this is the true strength of the novel.

This is a novel about Ruth Tuttle, a black girl, who at 17 years ago was pregnant. Her grandma helped her to keep it a secret and right after the delivery, the baby was whisked away while she went in another direction: her dream of going to Yale. She landed a great job, a wonderful husband and comfortable house in Chicago. But the guilt of not knowing her son was always on her mind. The book takes her back to the small town of Indiana to find out what happened to her son.

Anyone that reads this book immediately wants to help Ruth sort things out so she can go on with her good life. The book gives you a picture of her 75 year old grandma who raised her with sealed lips from the adoption, the preacher whom was a little shady and lots of friends that tried to help. The reader also learns how difficult it was being black. Ruth's mom said: "A black boy's life isn't worth 2 flies."

The novel makes you think about the racial prejudice and divisions of class in our country. The author notes at the end: "The characters grew from my heart. I hope they'll remain in yours for a long time to come." My answer is yes, they will. I loved this story. I admired the research of making the story real and taking me one step back in time.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy. I will encourage everyone I know to also read it.

I wish more of this book had actually taken place in Chicago, although I suppose I’m missing the point of this book. I enjoyed it, though I think somehow the book could have been shorter or longer. Some topics were hinted at without a deeper look and others were left hanging at the end in a way that was unsatisfying.

Absolutely brilliant novel about race, class and motherhood. Must-read.

I read this novel in one day because I got so absorbed in these characters and story that I couldn't put it down.

The very timely exploration of class, motherhood and black-white divide in America make "The Kindest Lie" the kind of book I feel the need to read more of as a white woman. The way these themes are carried out definitely reminded me of "The Vanishing Half" and "The Mothers" by Brit Bennett, "Such a Fun Age" by Kiley Reid and "Small Great Things" by Jodi Picoult (also about a Yale-educated Ruth!). The story written by Johnson is equally memorable while the writing is just as poignant as in these masterpieces.

However, what sets this book apart is the emphasis on politics of race and class in America. The 2008 Presidential election and the unemployment + anger + despair in Ruth's hometown, an Indiana factory town, are at the forefront of the novel. On top of that, Ruth's identity (or the socially imposed identity) as a mother masterfully shows how private lives are never separate from politics.

I highly recommend this remarkable book to anyone.

*Thank you to the Publisher for a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a beautiful novel that speaks to race and motherhood. Obviously, this is very timely and because it is so thoughtful and well written, it will certainly be an excellent choice for reading groups.

The protagonist,, Ruth is so many things, wife, mother?, daughter, sister and academic star. The novel explores how these segments pull her apart and how the pieces can be resolved. I enjoyed this and found myself thinking about all of the relationships and who has the right to determine another’s future. Are good intentions enough?

I highly recommend this novel. Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read it.