Maggie Smith

Truth and Other Lies

Readers who love Jodi Picoult’s topical plot twists and Liane Moriarty’s character-driven novels will devour this fast-paced tale of three women whose lives converge as one fights a devastating accusation, another campaigns for a contested seat in Congress, and one, the young reporter with ties to both, navigates the tricky line between secrets and lies.

Megan Barnes' life is in free fall. After losing both her job as a reporter and her boyfriend in the same day, she retreats to Chicago and moves in with Helen, her over-protective mother. Before long, the two are clashing over everything from pro-choice to #MeToo, not to mention
Helen's run for US Congress which puts Megan's career on hold until after the election.

Desperate to reboot her life, Megan gets her chance when an altercation at a campus rally brings her face to face with Pulitzer-prizewinning journalist Jocelyn Jones, who offers her a job on her PR team. Before long, Megan is pulled into the heady world of fame and glamour
her charismatic new mentor represents.

Until an anonymous tweet brings it all crashing down. To salvage Jocelyn's reputation, Megan must locate the online troll and expose the lies. But when the trail leads to blackmail, and circles back to her own mother, Megan realizes if she pulls any harder on this thread,
what should have been the scoop of her career could unravel into a tabloid nightmare.

Publisher: Ten16 Press, a division of Orange Hat Publishing
Publication Date: March 8, 2022
ISBN: 9781645382621

“What a terrific book! Twisty, timely, and rivetingly thought-provoking. The talented Maggie
Smith mines the intensity of competition, the duplicity of the human psyche, and the
terrifying knowledge that with one wrong word or one wrong decision, your life can be
changed forever. Smith knows her journalism stuff--the pressure, the stress and the
compulsion for the big story--and she also deeply understands the tension and conflicts
women battle when their professional and personal lives are set on a collision course.” ---
Hank Phillippi Ryan, Emmy-winning investigative reporter and USA Today bestselling
author of Her Perfect Life

“The political skews personal in this debut, which focuses on the bonds of powerful women
in the rough-and-tumble world of politics and government. Smith leads with boldness and
heart from the first page.”
—Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of The Deep End of the Ocean and The Good Son

“Maggie Smith’s ambitious debut tackles not only mother-daughter dynamics and family
secrets, but also the workplace and real-world politics affecting modern women. Written with
an engaging, conversational tone, the story conflicts are both realistic and substantial.”
—Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author Jamie Beck

“Expert storytelling, and a sharp exploration of the complex relationships between women --
mothers and daughters, mentors and protegées, best friends and frenemies -- are at the
heart of Maggie Smith’s compelling and savvy page-turner. Good thing books are caloriefree, I gobbled it down in a single afternoon.”
--Karen Karbo, author of In Praise of Difficult Women

Available for order:

AMAZON | B&N | BOOKSHOP | INDIEBOUND

In a career that’s included work as a journalist, a psychologist, and the founder of a national art consulting company, Maggie Smith now adds novelist to her resume with the publication of her debut, Truth and Other Lies. In addition to her writing, Maggie hosts the weekly podcast Hear Us Roar, where she interviews debut authors about their novel and their path to publication and blogs monthly for Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. A board member of the Chicago Writer’s Association, she’s Managing Editor of their Write City Magazine, and coordinator of Book Nook, which highlights Chicago-area independent bookstores.

https://maggiesmithwriter.com/

Tags: Adult, Contemporary, Literary, Women's Fiction