The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson
Rating 3/5 Stars
Publish Date - 2/2/2021

Thanks to Netgalley, William Marrow, and of course, Nancy Johnson, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.


It’s 2008 and Obama is the first African American President of the United States. Ruth and her husband Xavier live in Chicago and have every reason to be excited about Obama’s victory. But Ruth holds a secret back in her hometown in Indiana - she had a child placed up for adoption.

Once home, Ruth meets Midnight - a sweet boy from a troubled family. Midnight is my favorite character within the novel. I truly enjoyed reading about him. The connection between Ruth and Midnight - that their grandmothers both raised them when their parents couldn’t (Midnight’s dying and Ruth’s leaving) elevated the novel and really made me like them and the connection.

The Kindest Lie is one of those books that makes you read and reread what you just read. It explores race, family, class, community, and the repercussions of decisions. The writing is beautiful and the meaning is even better, however, I did find a few parts that I had issues with. I found Ruth to be unlikable as a protagonist. She was selfish and abandoned her family after all of the sacrifices that were made to help her succeed. Ruth resents her grandmother for taking care of her baby’s adoption. I also found it kind of frustrating that she did not mention it to her husband.

I did find the mystery of who and where is Ruth’s baby to be a bit flimsy, I was able to figure it out pretty early on in the book. I also was kind of annoyed that Midnight’s story was not given a good resolution.

All in all, I did enjoy the book, beyond my dislikes is a novel that is truly beautiful for a debut and focuses on timely issues which are necessary for fiction. I do recommend it!

I really enjoyed this book and was surprised to learn this was the authors first book.
This book makes you see and feel the subjects of race, class and motherhood. It was well written and the characters felt alive to me. The plot had depth and layers that were uncovered. It kept me engaged all the way through. It is a book I will remember because the journey was so real.

I am not summarizing this book, you can read about it in another review or in description. This is an author that will get attention. Good job Nancy Johnson!
Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read this wonderful ARC copy. This is my honest review.

Set in 2007-8 as Obama was elected, Ruth Tuttle has a successful career and marriage. One day she reveals to her husband a secret she even tried to ignore herself from when she was 17 years old.

Heading from Chicago to the small town in which she was raised, Ruth revisits her past, and impacts others along the way. The story is told from her perspective, and that of Midnight, a young boy.

It culminates in a night that many in the town wouldn't soon forget.

I started and finished this in the same day - Nancy Johnson keeps you absorbed in what's going to happen next.

Thank you to William Morrow and Netgalley for the review copy - all opinions are my own.

It's 2008, and Ruth Tuttle is celebrating the election of Barack Obama. Ruth is an Ivy League-educated African American engineer living in Chicago with her husband. She seems to have it all, other than the children that her husband and she have been discussing. However, Ruth has a secret; she had a baby at 17 who was given up for adoption so Ruth could go to college and escape her small town. Ruth can't stop thinking about the son she gave up, so she goes back to her Indiana hometown to try to find out what happened to him. While there, she forms a relationship with a young and neglected white boy named Midnight.

This was a strong debut novel that addressed a lot of really important topics, like race, family, poverty, and prejudice. Many of the characters are hopeful about the changes that they hope to see in the new Obama administration, while others are resentful of the ways that they feel left behind or overlooked. I grew up in the Midwest, so it was easy to place myself in the setting. The story is incredibly nuanced and layered, and I think it would make a good book club discussion book.

The only reason that I can't rank it as high as I thought I would is because it hit on so many topics, it doesn't really feel like it fully developed any of them. I liked the characters and could see what the author intended to do, but I wasn't as emotionally invested as I might have been if she had focused more on one or two themes, rather than hitting all of them on a more superficial level.

Nevertheless, I definitely think this book is worth a read for anyone who likes contemporary fiction that deals with very current issues and themes.

The Kindest Lie is a wonderful story. This debut novel was great. I am looking forward to more books from Nancy Johnson.

This book gave me a lot to think about. Overall I thought that it was a little heavy handed but it would be a great discussion book for a book group or a class.

What a gut-wrenching book - hard to believe it's this author's debut novel! A story of family we are born into and the family we make along the way. The main character of the book, Ruth, is a young, successful engineer - who happens to be black. This is her story - of how she escaped a dying town and achieved her dreams, but gave up a baby in the process. But when her husband starts asking about starting a family, she realizes the child she gave up hasn't really left her. She finally tells her husband of the baby she had at 17, and this creates huge friction between the two of them. She goes home, to try and find the answers - and her son. She meets Midnight - a young white boy, who is the grandson of a friend of her grandmother's. They form a friendship, and unknown to Ruth, Midnight is also best friends with her son. The story has so much that spoke to me - and is so poignant for the turbulent race relations we are experiencing now in 2021. So many touching phrases in the book that are still swirling in my mind - but one that stands out so much is when Corey's adoptive mom mentions that they've had "the talk" with Corey - and Ruth takes that to mean "the talk" = "the talk about sex". No, it's the talk black moms and dads have with their sons - (and I'm paraphrasing here) "if you are stopped by the police, do not look in their eyes, look at the ground. Hands at your side - not in your pockets. No sudden movements." Heartbreaking to realize how true this is. Highly recommend this book!

A powerful exploration of unearthing personal truth, the socioeconomic disparities of rural America, and the corrosive nature of white privilege. A must read!

I really enjoyed this book. The writing was quite good. The story was interesting and kept me engaged. I recommend.

I tried very hard to get into this one, but at the end I just didn't connect to the story. There is definitely an audience out there for this one, but I was just not the right reader for it.

This is a powerful book about love, loss, looking forward, looking back, race, privilege, education, and choices. Nancy Johnson has packed a lot into this debut novel.
Ruth is a successful black chemical engineer married to a successful man. Her success didn't come easily. When she was 17, she had a child, and her grandmother gave the baby away, saying that this child could not get in the way of Ruth's Ivy League education. Ruth has never told her husband, Xavier, about her son. Now married four years, and on the verge of the first Obama presidency, Xavier is anxious to start their family.
Ruth realizes that she must confess this secret to Xavier in order to move forward. Ruth must leave Chicago's South Side and return to her roots in Indiana to try to find her son.
While in Indiana, Ruth meets Midnight (Patrick), a young white boy who acts like he is black. She knows that both he and Ruth are searching for love.
Ruth confronts her grandmother, her brother, and her friends until she finds the truth about her son, which helps her find the answers she craves.
The novel explores the differences in race and privilege, and the choices we make. Outstanding and thought provoking novel.
Thanks to Harper Collins, The Book Club Girls, Edelweiss.plus and NetGalley for a copy of this ARC. All opinions are my own, and are given freely.
#TheKindestLie #HarperCollins #TheBookClubGirls #Edelweiss #NetGalley.

It's hard to believe this is the author's debut. Her characters are well crafted and full of compassion and understanding. The diversity of the cast allows the reader to "see" different viewpoints, young and old, black and white, rich and poor. Difficult topics are addressed, including racial, class, and generational differences.


Johnson's story is thought-provoking. However, I did find it odd, at times, how Ruth would jump to conclusions based on a small amount of supporting evidence ... yet she was always right. That felt a bit unbelievable. Overall, Ruth wasn't my favorite character. She was a bit too self-absorbed. Also, I didn't like the way she treated Xavier.

I wasn't as satisfied with the conclusion as I'd have liked, and it made things feel a bit unfinished, but I did enjoy the story overall.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy, but I wasn't required to leave a positive review.

When is a secret a lie? When does a secret we keep to protect someone else become a burden we can't bear?

Ruth, at 17, is destined for Yale. Her grandmother and brother won't let anything get in the way of her getting out of Ganton and fulfilling her potential. Nothing, including an unplanned pregnancy. The pregnancy is kept secret, a secret adoption follows, and Ruth goes to Yale and becomes an engineer.

Ruth never forgets the son she bore, but doesn't share the fact that she has a son with her now husband, Xavier. When the secret Ruth is keeping from Xavier collides with her unfulfilled longing to know what became of her son, Ruth runs back to Ganton, a "town that did more than kill dremas. It birthed them, too." Ruth is angry and seeking answers, until "everything came into focus more sharply and she saw them all with new eyes - their flaws and their beauty - and she chose to appreciate them because, in the end, they were family."

Thanks to Harper Collins for the advance copy!

This book tackles many essential topics like, racial injustices, economic class, motherhood, and family secrets. It shows how important it is to be honest to the people you love and also accept them and their past. Ruth’s jouney was challenging and heartbreaking. I honestly do not agree on some of her actions but I understand her regret and loneliness over not meeting her child. As the secrets unfolded, I heavily sympathize for her child, I understand the reasonings why everything has to happen and this read definitely highlighted what can happened to a child (Midnight) when his own family will not give him that much love, attention and proper guidance in life. He wil have poor choices and will act out of negative emotions. I can sympathize with Midnight because he just want to be love and cared for like his friend Corey. This read is very inspiring and relatable in so many ways. A must read for everyone!

Thanks to Net Galley for an ARC of this book. It was a well written story which discussed race relations in a interesting and thought provoking way. I thought the characters were well developed.

This book packs a punch with the heavy topics it tackles - everything from race, social class, teenage pregnancy and motherhood, to family. The Kindest Lie also explores the lies we tell to protect our loved ones and the truths we omit from them. It is told from alternating points of view with Ruth providing the narrative from a middle class Black woman’s perspective who befriends Midnight, a poor white boy who is just learning how society treats Black boys differently from himself. They are the unlikeliest of friends but through them Johnson wove a timely tale.

This well written debut that was more character driven than what I usually read, but I could appreciate this powerful and complex book. Go give this one a read, especially if it was your BOTM pick.

Set in post-election 2008, The Kindest Lie brought me back to everything going on in our country after Obama was elected President. The story follows two very different point of views – Ruth, an Ivy-League educated Black engineer in her thirties living in Chicago with her husband, and Midnight, an eleven year old white boy living in Ruth’s small Indiana hometown. Their stories intersect at some point down the line which creates such an interesting plot for us to read about.

Ruth has never quite gotten over the baby she gave birth to (and abandoned) when she was a teenager. As she and her husband broach the subject of starting a family of their own, Ruth knows that she has to come to peace with her past and returns home to Indiana to start that journey. Her families secrets become exposed as she digs into what really happened all of those years ago.

The Kindest Lie is one of those books that everyone needs to read. Apart from the wonderful story telling, it explores so many important topics like struggling with poverty and inequality while confronting systemic racism and stereotypes that would make for an open and honest book club discussion. I know I won’t be forgetting Ruth and Midnight’s stories for quite some time.

The Kindest Lie is a powerful and captivating novel about motherhood, family, loyalties.
Set in 2008, in the weeks following Obama's election a successful young Black woman returns to her hometown to confront her past after a decade when she finally tells her husband about t a secret she's been keeping her entire adult life.
Nancy Johnson takes a hard look at how racism and poverty shape lives leaving people to make choices that are far from perfect or ideal just to survive.
This was a fantastic debut novel and I look forward to reading more from the author.

Thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for the advance copy.

The book was decently written and paced. The main character is Ruth, who returns to her hometown to find out what happened to the baby she had to leave in order to succeed and continue onto Yale.

During the search Ruth connects with a family friend’s grandson, Patrick nicknamed Midnight, who becomes a major part of the story, having his own point of view sections. This was an interesting choice, as this kid is certainly not Ruth’s, as he is white, but you know he will be important to the story.

The first section as this narrator felt like the child was younger than 11, a bit naïve for his age and circumstances. We see through his innocent eyes how some adults react to his friends who are not white, how they seem to accuse them of things quickly. He sees racism in the community without understanding it.

There are a couple of points in the book that didn’t ring fully true to me, but perhaps I’m projecting my own attitudes. If I were married five years and we had a major blowout argument I still would call or text my husband during Christmas if we were apart. This having the husband on hold was hard for me to accept. There were a couple of scenes that seemed off to me, out of character, but that is a minor flaw. I rounded the book up to four stars since the aspect of talking about racism and classism was handled deftly, it wasn’t in your face pushing these issues. It’s part of life, especially in hard hit towns where manufacturing has left, and it was seamlessly added as part of the book.

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Nancy Johnson's debut novel, The Kindest Lie, explores questions of race, motherhood, place and identity as one woman goes back to her hometown to find the child she gave birth to as a teenager.

From the outside, Ruth Tuttle's future seems full of promise. She has an Ivy League education and, despite the challenges of working in STEM as a Black woman, is pushing for a promotion at work. She is married to a successful PepsiCo marketing executive, a gentle and kind man who wants to start a family. Barack Obama has just been elected president. Inside, however, Ruth is consumed by her past. She has told herself for years that "her life began when she drove away from that little shotgun house in Indiana without her baby," a child she has never met nor mentioned since the day of his birth.

It feels inevitable that Ruth ends up back at the little Indiana house where she was raised by her grandmother, in search of answers for and about herself: What happened to her son? What does a mother owe her child? Is it ever acceptable to do something bad for the right reasons? Can we ever truly escape our pasts?

Johnson never asks these questions outright, but they lurk on every page of The Kindest Lie as Ruth revisits the failing industrial town that launched her into the world, peppered with flawed characters both unmoored by the harsh realities they face each day and anchored by those who hold them close, despite their flaws.