The Heart of a Lie [Paperback]

Meg North (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 238 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace (December 18, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1466281669
• ISBN-13: 978-1466281660
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,307,938 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I write historical and literary fiction set in the 1800's, from the Civil War through the Victorian period and the Edwardian age, too.

Set in 1868, "The Heart of a Lie" is a romantic story with more than a touch of Gothic mystery, about a woman at the center of her family's sinful past. My debut novel, "Daniel's Garden," has gotten rave reviews from its dedicated group of fans. Both novels are available here. Take a look!

I live in Portland, Maine with my husband, a pug named Jane, and a piano named Humphrey. I give tours at the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow House, and "Daniel's Garden" is available in the Maine Historical Society gift shop.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent novel about two sisters in Maine just after the American Civil War!, January 16, 2012

By 

Jillian "Jillian" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Heart of a Lie (Paperback)

In 2010 I was lucky enough to stumble upon Meg North's debut novel - 'Daniel's Garden,' the story of a Harvard boy from a prominent Boston family who is swept, with three close friends, into the fields and trenches of the American Civil War.

Now Ms. North has a second novel, 'The Heart of a Lie,' which I happily read during the holidays this year. It is a page-turner and kept me interested clear to the final page. What impresses me most about 'The Heart of a Lie' is that it is written, not through the eyes of a boy learning to soldier in military camps and on battlefields, like 'Daniel's Garden' -- but through the eyes of a quiet girl in the years just after the close of the American Civil War, in a setting lit with dinner parties, carriages and parlor banter by the piano. Ms. North's versatility as a writer impresses me, and her ability to make the reader care about the central character's struggles and successes certainly holds up in both settings. I was as moved by 'The Heart of a Lie' as I was by 'Daniel's Garden,' and each live on for me long after I've closed the book.

'The Heart of a Lie' is the story of Esther Perry and her sister Lara - two girls from Maine who have lost their father to a Union battlefield and must bury their mother after a gruesome war with consumption at the story's open. Now orphans, these still-mourning sisters have just a matter of days to vacate the premises of a farm that has nurtured their childhood and seen them grow from girls to women during the dark days of America's Civil War. And they have nowhere to go.

Reminiscent of Little Women's quiet domesticity and homage to sisterhood -- and Jane Eyre's determined central character --'The Heart of a Lie' carries us from the dying Perry Farm into the bustle of high society Portland, Maine where Esther and Lara meet a wealthy family of cousins they never knew existed, and become swept into a mystery that has churned in their family for decades. Young Esther's shoulders are weighted with the realization that she is Lara's only chance at survival, and her determined, giving spirit carry that burden with believability and poignancy enough to encourage even the most scowling reader's empathy. As the story unfolds, the weight Esther is made to carry keeps the tension in the story mounting progressively higher until (if you're at all like me) you're willing to sacrifice a night's sleep to find out how she comes out of it. Aside the novel's main focus on mystery and survival in nineteenth century Maine is strung a quiet love story as delicate as the story's central character.

Among the novel's cast are Aunt Curtis, the cold-hearted wife of a doctor; Jane Curtis, her arguably colder daughter; Ambrose Curtis, the kind-hearted Portland doctor; Elliot Curtis, the quick-grinning cousin; and Henry Vallencourt, the dashing neighbor to whom Jane pledges her youthful heart (what there is of it.) Each contribute to the unfolding of a mystery that will determine Esther and Lara's fate.

In Ms. North's work, one finds both grit (as in 'Daniel's Garden') and an old soul ('The Heart of a Lie'). Her writing style, while not at all difficult to follow, is very Victorian - the swish of skirts and the icy breath of a Victorian winter live in the pages. It is clear she is well read, and the ghosts of Dickens, Bronte, Austen, and even Beethoven whisper her work. Her voice is uplifting - her writing free of the torrid sex scenes that fill up too much of literature today, and focused instead upon a story well-told. There is a whimsical quality to the writing that simply elevates the mood. It is distinct, and while certainly reminiscent of the Victorians, it is the author's very own - the quiet, lilting voice of a 19th century writer penning her stories in 2012. I think that is her trademark: she whispers yesterday in the midst of a raging 21st century.

While 'Daniel's Garden' stormed the reader's senses with its intense descriptions of the bloody fighting at battlefields like Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville, 'The Heart of a Lie,' with its more domestic focus, creates the cozy, nostalgic feeling I treasure in many of my favorite Victorian classics.

I'm intrigued by the style in 'The Heart of a Lie.' It's a mix between fairy tale and historical fiction that is quite distinct and charming. The tale itself is a sort of Cinderella story set in the middle of the Civil War. You'd have to read it to know what I mean by that, but what stands out for me is that style -- that passion for American Civil War history mixed with an almost childlike love of a good story. The mix is like salt and sweet: the intensity of the war and conditions in Maine (as well as the South) in the aftermath of the war are present in 'The Heart of a Lie,' beside an almost magical story of wealth flaunted before grueling poverty. It's a story of sisters and courage and fortitude, of heaving one's chin up and walking on. If I had to sum it up in a single sentence, I would say that 'The Heart of a Lie' is a love letter to Ms. North's hometown of Portland, Maine in the 19th century, told by the voice of a young girl who had to overcome too much to find her truth.

Meg North lives in the 19th century in her soul, I think, and brings it brilliantly to life for readers who yearn for a bit more Alcott, or a bit more Bronte, or a bit more Austen. Still, she is her own voice and stands for this reader as a new writer quite mighty in her own right. I can't wait to read her next work.