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A
Version of the Truth
is a lyrical, wise, and mesmerizing story about love,
learning, friendship, rare birds and other forces of nature.
Set in the wilds of Topanga Canyon, the story is narrated
by Cassie Shaw, a nature lover with innate intelligence and
charm who reinvents herself with unexpected consequences.
Much like Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion, Cassie has an
unhappy past and is relegated to a life beneath her, but her
spirit is uplifted in the outdoors. The eerie, ghostlike
call of presumed extinct birds in a secret clearing, the
sound of wind in the trees, the harmony of a world without
people, all give Cassie a sense of calm. But everywhere
else, life is tough. Her mother believes in Big Foot. Her
wisecracking but beloved African Grey parrot is a drama
queen. And at age thirty, a widow without a college degree,
Cassie desperately needs to earn a living, which is why,
against all her principles, she lies on her resume for an
office job at an elite university, making up facts about
herself, creating the person she wants to be.
Her new boss is the magnetic Professor William Conner, an
expert in animal behavior who recognizes the intelligence
behind Cassie’s bogus resume. Soon, under his charismatic
tutelage, Cassie carefully begins her personal
transformation, all the while still visiting her secret
clearing and her strange, iconic birds. But her future is
teetering on one unbearable truth, and Cassie’s masquerade
is about to come undone--in a chain of events that will
transform her life and the lives of those around
her--forever.
A Version of the Truth is honest, funny and
uplifting--a modern, provocative twist on the theme of
appearance versus reality and the resulting mysteries,
difficulties and disadvantages of telling the truth.
In Literacy and Longing in L.A., hailed as “the most
delightful read of the year” by Liz Smith in the New York
Post, Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack captivated readers
with a brilliantly-imagined first novel which was #1 on the
Los Angeles Times Best Seller List and winner of the 2006
Fiction Award from the Southern California Booksellers
Association. Now Kaufman and Mack return, introducing a
character with a unique voice you’ll never forget.
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