Necessary Lies

"All at once, I felt overwhelmed by the fear they must have felt back then, and by their courage." ~ pg. 12

Picture a small southern town fifty years ago. Fifteen-year-old Ivy Hart is a tenant on a tobacco farm. Unlike other young girls her age, she is the head of household. Ivy cares for her grandmother, older sister and baby nephew. With her grandmother's aging, her older sister's mental illness, her baby nephew's slow development skills and her own epilepsy, Ivy struggles to hold it together.

Jane is a newlywed who wishes to be independent and work. To her husband's dismay, she takes on a position as Grace County's newest social worker. Turns out Jane is too nice for social work. Before you know it, Jane becomes emotionally attached to the Hart family and at a crossroads whether to take a step back or risk her career to help clients.

"You haven't been comfortable with the program from the start, have you?" ~ pg. 140

The characters in Necessary Lies are fictional but the Eugenics Sterilization Program is very real. According to the Author's Note, North Carolina sterilized over 7,000 of its citizens. North Carolina is the only state that gave social workers the power to petition for sterilization of individuals. If it weren't for Diane Chamberlain, this program would be unknown to me. Color me thankful to the author for bringing awareness, then color me appalled that so many individuals were affected by this program from 1929 until 1975.

Diane Chamberlain is an international bestselling author. I have read three of her twenty-two novels (The Good Father, The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes and The Midwife's Confession). All of the books I've read are highly recommended. The stories are deep, detailed and touch your heart. After reading the prequel The First Lie, I was anxious to see the story unfold and was satisfied with the full-circle ending of Necessary Lies. I will not hesitate to read a Diane Chamberlain novel and hope to catch up on her earlier released novels. I suggest my bookhearts do the same.

Title: Necessary Lies
Author: Diane Chamberlain
Published: September 2013
Pages: 313
Edition: eBook
Rating: ♥♥♥♥♡