When Sherri and her daughter Katie moved to Newburyport, Massachusetts, at the beginning of summer, they were looking forward to enjoying the summer at the beach. Katie signed up for surf-camp, and almost immediately met and befriended other girls her age who were going to go to her school come fall. Their moms were all a little surprised—surf-camp sign-ups had closed a while back, so it was difficult for newcomers to get in. The Mom Squad smelled a hint of drama in the air, and you know they were all over that.
As the weeks go on and Katie is invited to spend time with more of the girls, more of the moms close in on Sherri and what brought them there. It was a nasty divorce in Ohio and the need for a new start somewhere completely new, is what she says, but the Mom Squad is dubious. And when an invitation to join the Mom Squad at a barre class proves to Sherri that she’s not quite in the same mindset as these women, a chance encounter with mom Rebecca brings her a chance at a genuine friendship.
Rebecca is part of the Mom Squad, but after her husband dropped dead suddenly from an aneurysm about 18 months earlier, her grief had set her apart from the rest of the group, so she feels more like an outsider. She has two daughters, Morgan, who is Katie’s age and Alexa, who just graduated from high school. But these women are similar in another way—they both have secrets that they don’t want anyone else to know.
One of these secrets is about a new romance, all full of hope and excitement. The other secret is about a previous romance, and if that truth of that ever came out, it could put their lives in jeopardy.
Two Truths and a Lie is a summertime novel about families in times of change, about mothers and daughters, about secrets and lies and the danger they contain. Author Meg Mitchell Moore has deftly woven a story of suburban life that rivals any reality show set in upper middle class America. Told in alternating viewpoints, from Sherri, Rebecca, Alexa, and the hivemind of the Mom Squad, this layered novel balances the lives of these women with the complicated emotions of families in crisis and in stasis.
I loved this book. I loved the way the Mom Squad was a little like a Greek chorus, but with more gossip and passive aggression. I really felt for these families who were struggling to find a new normal for themselves in times of grief and chaos. Reading this reminded me of the first time I read Big Little Lies, which was one of my favorite books that year. I think this one will stick with me for quite some time this summer.
A galley of Two Truths and a Lie was provided to me by William Morrow, with many thanks.
