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White Lies by Susan Barrett

Publisher: Create Space (August 30, 2016)
Category: Literary Fiction, Women’s Fiction; Contemporary Fiction; Family Saga
Tour Date: April/May, 2017
ISBN: 978-1536806847
Available in: Print & ebook, 164 Pages

The story is told from three perspectives: that of Beth, the natural mother of Tess, Liz, the adoptive mother, and Tess herself. The reader’s sympathy is engaged with each woman in turn, as the intricacies of the plot demonstrate how nature and nurture interplay in the formation of personality.

Beth is a guest at a wedding. The bride is Tess, her natural daughter, who’d been adopted as a baby. During the moments leading up to the marriage ceremony, Beth remembers the lifetime events that have led to her present state of sick fear. Recent revelations have made her suspect that the bridegroom is the first child she’d given up for adoption, and therefore Tess’s half-brother. Will she speak of this impediment to matrimony, as invited by the priest, or forever hold her peace?

White Lies gives the answer in a way that reveals the complexities of truth-telling in the context of parenthood and adoption. An entertaining page-turner, the novel also traces the social changes in family life over the last fifty years.

Praise for White Lies by Susan Barrett

“A beautifully written study of motherhood, loss and what makes us who we are. The characters are deftly drawn and the writer clearly knows her subject. The narrative is expertly woven and fast-paced, delivering pain and joy blow by blow. Sharp and incisive, heartbreaking and so relevant to today.”-Vanessa de Haan

“A beautifully written, sensitive, yet amusing, and intriguing, tale around a subject that is rarely covered in literature. A delight to read.”- Amazon Customer

“This is a gripping read. It is not only relevant to those who have been involved in adoption but to all of us. It raises questions about families, about the fragility and power of maternal bonds, about love and disappointment. It charts with particular accuracy the difficulties of the tangled web of secrecy and complication that was characteristic of adoption in the mid-twentieth century. It keeps you guessing to the very end!”-Sally Woods

“I’m looking forward to seeing how the book group I belong to find this. I was quickly gripped by it, feeling for the central characters, all of them very real. I partly wanted to read slowly to enjoy it, confident there would be a satisfying, un-folding, but partly wanted to race to find out what happened. Will enjoy reading it again.”-Amazon Customer

Interview with the Author

What initially got you interested in writing?

It feels as though my interest in writing was born in me. From the age of learning to read and write, I wanted to write and illustrate stories. I liked entertaining people. At school it became obvious that this was something I could do. There was never a moment when I wasn’t going to become a writer. It was just a matter of living enough of a life to have material to draw on.

How did you decide to make the move into being a published author?

From schooldays when I received enough encouragement from my English language and literature teachers, my ambition was to write novels and be published. In my 20s my husband and I lived on a Greek island, he painting, and me writing. When we returned to London, he was given an exhibition, and I sent my novel to a few publishers. That first novel wasn’t published, but my second was – in hardback and paperback, in the UK and US. It also sold film rights.

What do you want readers to take away from reading your works?

I want them to feel satisfied, as though they’ve had a good meal, and be left thinking about the underlying questions that have been explored in the book. In my early novels the questions concerned feminist issues.

What do you find most rewarding about writing?

I’m happy when I’ve brought off what I’ve been aiming for. That ranges from a difficult paragraph after a morning’s tussle or a completed novel after months or years.

What do you find most challenging about writing?

It can be disheartening to endure the length of time it takes between finishing a novel and the moment it becomes a published book that other people can read and enjoy. In mainstream publishing, it can take years. This is what makes Indie publishing so appealing. The process can happen so fast.

What advice would you give to people want to enter the field?

Write your first book and get two people whose unbiased opinion you can trust to read and give you honest feedback. Learn from your mistakes and write another. Very often a novel is hailed as the brilliant debut of a new author, and the next novel flops. In fact, it was the second novel that was actually the first written!

What ways can readers connect with you?

I like to hear from readers via my website https://aliveinww2.com. They can comment on my posts or send me an email via the contact page.

About Susan Barrett

Born in Plymouth, Devon in 1938, Susan Barrett began writing fiction in the 1960s while living on a Greek island. Her first novel was published by Michael Joseph in 1969. Film rights were sold and renewed over several years. She went on to write six more novels which were published with mainstream publishers in hardback and paperback in UK and USA. A book on Greece’s landscapes, flora and fauna, illustrated in watercolours by her artist husband Peter Barrett, was published by Harrap Columbus in 1986. They have also produced many children’s books together, published in the US. In the 1990s she trained in humanistic counselling and gestalt psychotherapy and has practised as a counsellor for the last twenty years. Her latest two novels and a work of non-fiction are available as ebooks and in paperback editions.

Website http://www.aliveinww2.com
Twitter @SusanBarrett192
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/writersreadersdirect
Google+ https://plus.google.com/107631556274786388597

Buy White Lies by Susan Barrett

Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
BookDepository

Giveaway White Lies by Susan Barrett

This giveaway is for 2 print copies and 6 ebook copies of ‘White Lies’, for a total of 8 winners. Print is open to Canada, UK, and the U.S. only however, ebook is open worldwide. This giveaway ends on June 1, 2017 at midnight pacific time. Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.

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