Lies You Wanted to Hear

“Hard to believe Thomson is a first time author, given the achievement of this novel. Compulsively readable and stunningly written, Lies You Wanted to Hear shows how the tiniest fissure in a relationship might become a canyon. Do we get what we deserve in a relationship? Can we ever receive what we truly need from the people we love? I’m still not entirely convinced that these characters are fictional; that’s how much they lived and breathed on the page.” - Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lone Wolf and The Storyteller“The searing tale of a wife and mother, a husband and father, both of whom are - like the rest of us - flawed, their animosity for one another only outweighed by their deep and abiding love for their children. No spouse or parent who picks up this book will be able to put it down. Nor will anyone else.” - Andre Dubus III, NYT bestselling author of Townie and House of Sand and Fog“A gripping debut….a morally complex and thoroughly grown-up novel. ” - Margot Livesey, New York Times bestselling author of The Flight of Gemma Hardy”[A] well-told narrative of complex characters and their troubled families”” - Publishers Weekly”[An] effective debut … Thomson lays out the moral complexities underlying acrimonious divorces, taking care to make each side credible.” - Booklist“Quite an achievement … confident and eminently readable” - New York Journal of Books“A spellbinding stunner of a debut … Lies You Wanted to Hear is a novel of intensely lifelike characters and chilling choices and consequences that is utterly satisfying from start to finish.” - Redbook Magazine“A remarkable, readable novel that’s sure to provoke animated debate” - Portland Daily Sun“An unequal attraction has devastating repercussions in this delightful, assured debut novel” - People“A great piece of fiction. … The book is filled with such tart takes on the human condition, along with more gentle illuminating moments. It has a sense of fullness and urgency that perhaps only a 67-year-old first time writer can impart.” - Concord Monitor“A haunting piece of fiction … Whitfield Thomson’s anguishing tale is told so thoughtfully that it leaves readers in the unusual place of trying to determine right from wrong” - Shelf Awareness“Thomson poignantly depicts [his characters’] humanity and readers cannot help but feel empathetic.” - The Brooklyn Eagle“Impossible to put down, this is the book club read of the year” - Bloggers Recommend“An engrossing read about complicated characters whose decisions cause us to ponder the many degrees between right and wrong” - Book Reporter“A compelling story of a recognizable but flawed couple, bound by bad choices and devotion to their children that explores the consequences of their of self-deceptions with insight” - Associated Press

James Whitfield Thomson is a former sales executive and U.S. Navy navigator in Vietnam. Along with Elizabeth Berg, George Packer, Christopher Tilghman, and Dennis Lehane, he was an early member of the late Andre Dubus’s writers’ workshop. He lives in Natick, Massachusetts. This is his first novel.

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