Review: Captivating and will compel you to read Necessary Lies
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 6, 2013
Goodreads Description- The First Lie gives readers an early glimpse into the life of thirteen-year-old Ivy Hart. It's 1958 in rural North Carolina, where Ivy lives with her grandmother and sister on a tobacco farm. As tenant farmers, Ivy and her family don't have much freedom, though she and her best friend, Henry, often sneak away in search of adventure...and their truest selves. But life on the farm takes a turn when Ivy's teenage sister gives birth--all the while maintaining her silence about the baby's father. Soon Ivy finds herself navigating the space between adolescence and adulthood as she tries to unravel a dark web of family secrets and make sense of her ever-evolving life in the segregated South.Even though this short story is only about 40 pages long it definitely sparked my interest into reading Necessary Lies, Diane Chamberlain's next book to which this was a short prequel to.  Ivy and her friend Henry have snuck out in the middle of the night to play with a forbidden Ouija board during which they "make contact" with a spirit named Ruby.  Ruby tells them some frightening information that scares Ivy.  When she returns home, she finds that her sister, Mary Ella, is in labor with her child.  Mary Ella is young mother and everyone is worried about her health after the child is born.  Ivy also overhears a conversation that makes her question the motives and actions of her grandmother, Nonnie.This is a very short story and I don't want to give any more away but I have to say that the next book on my reading list will be the follow-up to this story.  I want to know what happens to Ivy and her family and what impact Ruby the spirit has on the future of their family.  This was definitely a 5 star short story for me simply because it is charging me forward to read the next book.