We see through a distorting lens; misconception and misunderstanding are the fabric of our existence. We live our lives through metaphor, unwittingly deluding ourselves and those close to us, advancing by guesswork and intuition. Any coincidence between reality and our perception of it is simply that – coincidence. In this uncertain state, we stumble onwards, seeking truth and certainty.
Where Truth Lies follows such a search for self-knowledge and fulfilment, a girl on the verge of womanhood. It is 1976; Carole's childhood has been troubled and loveless, caught in her parents' crossfire, her adolescence as bleak as exile. She will begin her quest with her father, but his second wife stands in her way, suspicious and vigilant, fearful for her crumbling marriage. She resorts to a subterfuge; her scheming unexpectedly entangles her in an intimate relationship with a retired, widowed schoolteacher, mourning the loss of her only child. And with the dead girl, reborn inside her head, like a twin sister. Alone no longer, she believes she has found what she's been looking for. Until fate intervenes.
She returns to her father, a foundling, and is rebuffed once more. Now she must choose between Paris and London, between an alluring, dark stranger, dangerous to know, and a married lover, a predator but exploitable. She flees to London. There she encounters the seemingly uncomplicated Gemma, who brings complication back into her life and opens her eyes to her true self.
The truth appears unlikely to set her free, plunged into a maelstrom of conflicting emotions; on one side her neurotic mother, bent on vengeance, on the other the indifference and duplicity of her father, and everywhere her stepmother, enigmatic and perplexing. In a dramatic climax she learns that love is to be found in unexpected places and that she has held the key to happiness in her hand from the beginning. It has been a story of conflict, revenge and reconciliation, of deception, unbearable tensions, undreamed of desires and unforeseen outcomes.
- ISBN10 1780887353
- ISBN13 9781780887357
- Publish Date 7 November 2011
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 26 May 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Troubador Publishing
- Imprint Matador
- Format eBook (EPUB)
- Pages 384
- Language English