Never Tell a Lie

Author: Gail Schimmel
Publisher: Pan MacMillan
Reviewer: Beryl Eichenberger
Gail Schimmel nails it every time. She takes current themes and marries them skilfully into an absorbing story that is as real as it gets. She says she is lazy to do research but as I turned these pages my feeling was that she has kept herself exceptionally well informed; with her legal background she understands the intricacies of how lies are not only perpetuated in Gender Based Violence victims but also have their place in what purports to be everyday family life.
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Never Tell a Lie’ is a revealing, sometimes quizzical, sometimes uncomfortable story about how we protect ourselves and our loved ones.  Another one of these page turners that makes you reflect on your own life and perhaps those of your friends.
We are all probably guilty of telling little white lies to cover our backs or mask some (hopefully) minor transgression. But what happens when that lie grows bigger and bigger? Because that’s what so often happens. And when we mask the real truth in the hope that no one will see the cracks, cuts and bruises that show evidence of our real world, that’s when the trouble starts and life spirals out of control. We live in a world where truth is often hard to discern, take fake news or celebrity gossip – gossip – well there’s a thing that can lead to big lies. What goes on behind closed doors…as the saying goes…and hiding behind those doors are some vicious secrets.
Meet Mary Wilson. After a traumatic marriage to an emotional abuser who, thankfully, meets his end in an accident, she and her 12 year old son have finally come to a place where life is giving her joy and not angst. Her relationship with her Dad is enviable – the man who brought her up, picks up the pieces and supports her through thick and thin. But when she finds an old postcard which calls into question everything that she has grown up with, it’s time to call up the past and get at the truth. A high school reunion brings her into contact with an old school classmate, April, who becomes a new friend – but there are some anomalies which Mary can’t quite put her finger on. Perfect marriage, gorgeously perfect husband - revered for his work in women’s rights – but the niggling doubt that all is not right pervades.
No spoilers, but this a very worthwhile read,  exposing as it does the ills of our society and the lengths that we ourselves will go to hide the imperfections of our private lives to protect those we love . But what it also reveals is how easy it is to fall into the trap of self-doubt and undervalue our own humanity at sometimes terrible cost.  ​