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Donna Meredith

The Color of Lies Paperback – July 19, 2011

by Donna Meredith (Author)

48 ratings

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Forty-year-old widow Molly Culpepper believes her hometown is a place of harmony and white picket fences--until a colleague chalks a racial slur on the blackboard during Barack Obama's presidential campaign. In the uproar that follows, a citizens’ group files a lawsuit alleging discrimination against the high school where Molly teaches. To address the lawsuit’s concerns over academic weaknesses, Molly joins forces with a black minister to plan curriculum improvements and a fundraiser for equipment upgrades. The town’s racial divide becomes personal when Molly clashes with a new black student, J.D. Marshall. His rough language and lack of control disrupt Molly’s classroom, but she is determined to find a way to reach him. Gradually, both Molly and J.D. discover their families have a tangled history involving violence, charity, and misunderstanding. The serious themes of the novel are lightened by Molly's witty voice and the dark humor that stems from the effects of the Great Recession. In addition to problems at work, Molly struggles to raise two boys on her own, to keep her alcoholic father out of trouble, and to find time for romance.

Print length

294 pages
Language

English
Publication date

July 19, 2011
Dimensions

6 x 0.74 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0982901550
ISBN-13

978-0982901557
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Gold Medal, Adult Fiction
-Florida Publishers Association
The twists come fast and furious . . . and the journey is fun and ultimately hopeful.
-Foreword magazine
This novel magnificently captures the texture of small town life. -Southern Literary Review An insightful and poignant read.
-the Midwest Book Review

This novel magnificently captures the texture of small town life, just as it captures the tension between Molly Culpepper's idealism and her growing awareness that she will have to let others take responsibility for their actions and not wear herself out trying to fix everything that she sees going wrong. -- Southern Literary Review

From the Inside Flap

Though there is a Cassandra King/Connie May Fowler flavor, The Color of Lies shines with Donna Meredith's own strong voice. Intelligent, intuitive, and humorous, this tale takes us where most Southerners have to eventually go: smacking face first against our culture's racism. Yet Meredith's respect and love for her characters resonates as she spins this story of small town webs of connections that transcend color. There's a reason this won a first place award even before it was published.
-Claire Matturro, author of Skinny-Dipping and Sweetheart Deal.

In this complex tale of deception, love, and race, Meredith blends cringe-causing moments of fear with scenes of tenderness and connection to explore how lies are interwoven with the deepest truths of our lives. But while dishonesty grips the characters, you'll find none in Meredith's writing--a shoot-from-the-hip style to match her storytelling gifts.
-Ron Cooper, author of Purple Jesus

From the Back Cover

"The best novel about the complications of contemporary race relations in the South I've ever read. I was immediately hooked by Meredith's oh-so-accurate depiction of a small Georgia town and her story of a vulnerable, heroic high school teacher trying to stay afloat in a flood of racial tension and family trials. I love The Color of Lies. It's funny, wise, heartbreaking and unputdownable."
                -Elizabeth Stuckey-French, creative writing professor, Florida State University, author of The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady

"The Color of Lies is billed as fictional, but as a 'seasoned' African American woman, I found myself in a period of personal reflection . . . painfully real and far from fictional. I lived the 'Black and Blue Day' sort of experience in my state's capital city. The book is a marvelous read, and it contains enough fictional reality to stimulate those who want to work to make things better for all mankind."
                -Freddie Groomes-McLendon, Ph.D., Retired administrator, Florida State University, author of The Marginal Difference

"If you ever wondered what really lies behind the teacher lounge doors, or how anyone manages to actually impart wisdom in this day of down-turned economy and age-old tensions, The Color of Lies will surely satisfy. Molly Culpepper's self-effacing humor shines through as she juggles her roles as a widowed mother, daughter, and dedicated instructor, all while dealing with a growing rift in her community."
                -Rhett DeVane, author of Mama's Comfort Food

"Molly Culpepper is strong, witty, sensitive."
                -Royal Palm Literary Awards Judge

About the Author

West Virginia native Donna Meredith is the author of The Glass Madonna and The Color of Lies. These novels won back-to-back first places in unpublished women's fiction from the Florida Writers Association in 2009 and 2010. The Glass Madonna, set mostly in West Virginia, examines how women's lives have changed--and not changed--over three generations in a family of glassmakers. The Color of Lies explores racial tensions and education issues in a small Southern town during Barack Obama's election. Donna is currently writing an environmental mystery and also working on a biography of renowned West Virginia cameo glass artist, Kelsey Murphy. Donna resides in Tallahassee, Florida, with her husband John. For more information, check out her website at donnameredith.com.

Publisher : Wild Women Writers (July 19, 2011)
Language : English
Paperback : 294 pages
ISBN-10 : 0982901550
ISBN-13 : 978-0982901557
Item Weight : 15.3 ounces
Dimensions : 6 x 0.74 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,543,168 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #42,679 in Contemporary Women Fiction
- #78,824 in Literary Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
48 ratings

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4 star		21%
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Edwina Pendarvis

Talking about Color

Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2018

Verified Purchase

Meredith’s novel opens with the conflict that a racist slur written on the blackboard by a white teacher brings to Alderson High School and the whole community. The slur changes lots of things, including the way Molly Culpepper, the main character and herself a white teacher in the school, sees herself, her students, and her friends and neighbors. The story takes place in southern Georgia during the 2008 presidential campaign. It shows school up close as Molly, a widowed mother of two sons, tries to deal with problems at school. Confronting her own prejudices and the parallels between her overeating and her alcoholic father’s drinking problem, she also struggles with her feelings about a new student, an African American boy who strikes her as arrogant and willful. I usually have to like the main character of a novel to stay with the book, and I sometimes don’t like Molly. As a former teacher myself, I disagree with a lot of Molly’s actions in the classroom. She often makes what seem to me to be dumb decisionsI and she’s too harsh a judge of other people’s behavior sometimes—in other words, she’s human. That’s a strength of this novel that kept me reading in spirte of my frustrations over some of Molly’s attitudes. The author doesn’t prettify things, not the social relations in a mixed race school; not the relations between an all-too-human teacher and her teenaged students; and not the emotional relations between a grown daughter who tries to mother her alcoholic father. This book would be a great discussion-generating for teachers and for students.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Sam Staley

A Thoughtful and Engaging Story on Contemporary Race Relations

Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2012

Verified Purchase

One of my criteria for a "good book" is whether I'm still thinking about it well after I turn the last page, and Donna Meredith's new book "The Color of Lies" certainly fits the bill. "The Color of Lies" is a thoughtful and engaging look into the complexity of race relations through the eyes of a middle-age English teacher and mother. Using the lens of Molly Culpepper, a native of the small town in southern Georgia where the book takes places, Donna Meredith's story winds through the emotional ups and downs, conflicts, and self-doubt experienced by ordinary people during somewhat extraordinary times. Meredith doesn't pull punches, and the pace really picks up about midway through the story when racial conflict spills over into, and ultimately consumes, her classroom. To the author's credit, her characters are complex and layered, and the reader is never able to dismiss them easily or off-handidly. What might first seem like a caricature of stereo-type evolves into a insightful character study of values and traditions while challenging many of those things we just assumed were "true." I strongly recomemend this book to anyone interested in race relations, the tensions within contemporary southern culture and community, and stories that force us to come to grips with unpleasant truths. The story and characters seem tailor made for book clubs!

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Read, just read.

Book Group Possibility

Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2011

Verified Purchase

In "The Color of Lies", Donna Meredith raises issues that have impacted our country for decades, yet remain unresolved. Anchoring the story in a small-town high school helps illuminate the problems that many think happen everywhere except in their own towns. Racism is one problem but not the only one.

The challenges facing teachers today go beyond whether or not a student can read and write. Anyone who has ever been a teacher will appreciate the winds of change that seem to sweep in whenever someone opens the schoolhouse door. High-stakes testing changes the focus of instruction. The recent widespread cheating problem in the Atlanta City Schools shows how far some "educators" go for their own personal gain in complete disregard for their professional responsibilities.

It is difficult to teach someone who rejects the teacher. Peer pressure reigns with adults and with the students. Throw in a few administrators, elected officials, and community leaders to make a simmering stew of fact, fiction, opinions, and, finally understanding.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

KB Schaller

When yesterday is current again

Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2012

Verified Purchase

Here is a book that should take the reader back in time, but instead raises issues still current today. Main character Molly Culpepper must deal not only with classroom challenges, but also the very real "dramas" of family, which include an alcohol-dependent father along with balancing her career with parenting responsibilities.

Racism rears its ugly head even on the faculty, and from the front office, she must handle with care the viewpoint of a principal who, like many in small town America, longs for the days when Sunday School and Bible tenets extended into the classroom. Molly wonders how she will handle his censure of an article in the school newspaper that deals with AIDs and other "hot button" issues.

If this novel were placed on the "suggested reading" lists for schools, both adults and students would find many familiar scenarios with which they could identify.
Five stars for Donna Meredith for this thought-provoking novel.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Kathy Jordan

A current look at life in a small southern community.

Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2013

Verified Purchase

I loved this story. It is so relevant to today's issues, around education equality, education funding, surviving in the classroom both as teacher and student. Nothing goes unexplored in terms of real life in the 2000's in America in a small town. The issues that face these characters are the same regardless of what part of the country their small town resides, and the issues haven't yet been resolved. The book is full of recognisable conflict, affection, laughter and sadness. I highly recommend it to readers who haven't become so jaded they are unable to hope for change.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Katie B

thought-provoking novel

Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2014

Verified Purchase

Five stars and excellent editing. With free books, punctuation errors can run from errant to rampant.
Not this book!
The Color of Lies had realistic characters, well written storylines, and thought provoking messages.
The main character, Molly, has me thinking about issues that everyone should consider.
If you work in a classroom, you'd especially love this story.
I'll look for more work from Donna Meredith.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

L. Nolan

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2018

Verified Purchase

Truly written from the experience of a teacher. Hope for the future

One person found this helpful

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