The Liar's Diary (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "There was so much talk about the new music teacher before she arrived that her coming was almost anticlimactic..." (more)
Key Phrases: George Mather, Jack Butterfield, Brian Shagaury (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A case study in the explosive effects of extreme denial, Francis's debut relies completely on its very unreliable narrator, with mixed results. When local violinist and composer Ali Mather, a very sexy 46, comes to teach music at the Bridgeway high school where narrator Jeanne Cross, a very plain 37, is the secretary, teachers and students alike are abuzz. Ali is separated from her mild husband George, and is soon sleeping with the 31-year-old shop teacher, Brian Shagaury (and also with car dealer Jack Butterfield). Jeanne is married to a buff orthopedic surgeon, Gavin, with whom she has an overweight, dyslexic 16-year-old son, Jamie, who attends the school. An unlikely friendship develops between the seemingly steady Jeanne and acting-out Ali, and Jeanne's purposefully flat narration is effective in doling out disorienting incongruities (as in the offhanded way Jeanne develops a serious pill habit). Ali's provocative lifestyle eventually intersects directly with Jeanne's home life. When tragedy strikes, Jeanne's Stepford routine holds for a while, then becomes a giveaway. (Feb.)
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From Booklist

When free-spirited Ali Mather takes a job as a music teacher at the high school, the entire building is abuzz with talk of her unconventional love life. She's married to a loyal and patient man but carrying on not-so-secret love affairs with a used-car salesman and a fellow teacher. Hyperefficient school secretary Jeanne Cross, married to Gavin, a prominent surgeon, is both fascinated and repulsed by Ali's unapologetic attitude. Although Jeanne has been unhappily married for years to a controlling man who is overly critical of their son, she has trouble admitting that her family is not as perfect as it may appear to outsiders. Then Jeanne finds with Ali the close friendship she has always longed for. But Ali's insights into the dark side of the Cross family, including Gavin's sexual proclivities, cause Jeanne to retreat further into herself, putting both her son and Ali in danger. Although her plot suffers from too many over-the-top twists and turns, first-novelist Francis does create a disturbing portrait of a hollow family done in by secrets and lies. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult (February 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525949909
• ISBN-13: 978-0525949909
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #964,986 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark and haunting, August 9, 2007

By	K. Huff (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The Liar's Diary is an excellent story of secrets and truth-telling. Jeanne Cross's life seems to be perfect: a secretary at the local high school, se is married to Wonderful Dr. Gavin Cross and has a seemingly normal teenage son, Jamie. That year, Ali Mather comes to the town to teach music at the high school. She has an uncanny effect upon men, and her arrival in town sends shock waves through the community and especially through Jeanne and her family. Both women keep diaries, but it is only Jeanne's that we ever see. It seems that everyone is this tight, fast-paced, dark, and haunting novel has a secret to conceal, and it is only at the very end that those secrets are revealed. This is an absolute must-read that kept me guessing until the very end.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars STERLING READING OF A DARK THRILLER, February 13, 2007

By	Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

This review is from: The Liar's Diary (Audio CD)

This debut novel by poet Patry Francis begins quietly enough. Jeanne Cross is a suburban housewife and mother who works as secretary at Bridgeway High School. She's wed to Gavin, a bit of a jock, and is mother to 16-year-old Jamie who tends to the pudgy and suffers from dyslexia. Jeanne is not particularly thrilled with her life as is revealed in the rather staccato way she describes it.

Things change with the arrival of Ali, a violinist and composer with a lust for life and men. She comes to Bridgeway High to teach music and soon beds the married shop teacher. Outward appearances would indicate that Jeanne and Ali are polar opposites, yet they soon become fast friends despite the disapproval of Gavin. Ali, of course, has the upper hand in this relationship as Jeanne is attracted to her new friend's amoral lifestyle. It seems exciting, exhilarating, fun - everything she does not find in her own world and home.

As the story unfolds and grows darker Jeanne reveals snippets of herself, long held secrets. Then tragedy occurs and the key to a murder is to be found in a diary. Which diary holds the truth?

Voice performer Marie Caliendo (remembered for her narrations of the Nora Roberts O'Hurley series) gives a sterling reading of this story of a dysfunctional family and the puzzles of a human mind.

- Gail Cooke

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Secrets and Surprises, February 18, 2007

By	Myfanwy Collins (New England) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

You better set yourself aside a good chunk of time when you pick up The Liar's Diary (the stunning debut novel by Patry Francis) because I can tell you from personal experience that once you start reading, you're not going to want to stop until you've finished.

On the surface, this is a book about the seemingly perfect Cross family, living their slightly flawed lives out in the suburbs (the only flaw appears to be the superficial flaw of the son who is overweight) and the woman, the unwanted element, who enters their lives--Ali Mather. Below, the surface, however, this is a book about betrayal; it's about secrets and lies and years of abuse and denial and how all of these things if not uncovered and dealt with in some healthy way, can lead to disaster, which in this case, they most certainly do.

It is also about Jeanne Cross's awakening and her realization that she has been stuffing down her emotions for close to 20 years. As is typically the case with such repression, when the pressure cooker reaches its limit--it explodes.

Most heartbreaking of all, this book about errant mothers, abusive fathers, and lost children. And while there are certainly villans (Gavin Cross being the most obvious choice for villan, but Ali being cast as one as well from time to time), these villans are also human beings, who are damaged and hurting and acting out in the only way they know how.

I will not (because I don't want to ruin it for you) go into details of the plot (there are many surprises in store, though!), but I will say without hesitation that if you don't pick up this book and read it, you're going to be missing out.