Publisher: Simon and Schuster UK
Release date: 13 October 2026
Back cover blurb: It was the small things that weighed Sarah down. The dirty dishes abandoned in the sink. The empty bottle of milk put back inside the fridge. The clothes left crumpled on the floor. A life of never-ending mental load and constant demands. Somewhere along the way, Sarah had become a caretaker for everyone around her, both at home and at work. Then came the lie. One harmless white lie, she thought. Just a little shift in the narrative. And for a while everything became better. But one lie wasn’t enough. It was soon followed by another. And another. Until the truth became something unrecognizable, a distant memory swallowed by fiction. She never intended for it to spiral this way. It was just one little white lie. But the truth would inevitably threaten everything she held dear…
I'm not sure that we are supposed to like Sarah that much, I think that is kind of the point.
At the beginning of the novel I'll admit, I felt nothing but sympathy for her. I mean we've all lived with an ungrateful family member at some point in our lives, whether that be husband, child, or both.
Her family expect her to do literally everything for them.
So when something happens to Sarah that elicits a tiny bit of sympathy from her extremely ungrateful clan, she can't help but feel validated.
One Little Lie can't hurt, right?
But the first lie, leads to another, and then another.
And so begins a spiral of deception that Sarah finds herself unable to get out of of until it is too late.
This is where I began to question my enjoyment of the novel. I understand what the author was intending, I really do. But morally it did not sit right with me, and I almost didn't finish the novel.
However, I did persevere, and the afterward/acknowledgments do mention other 'real life' scenarios that are similar to those in the book, but I'm still not sure there is enough justification given. That is my own personal opinion though and I understand that others may really enjoy this book.
One Little Lie is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.
Thank You to the pubishers who approved my request via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.