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Necessary Lies

A journey of love, secrets, and the search for truth

Eva Stachniak author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:The Dundurn Group

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Necessary Lies cover

In Necessary Lies, Anna's journey from Poland to Montreal leads her to confront deep personal betrayals and the secrets that shaped her life.

In Necessary Lies, Anna's life takes a dramatic turn when she receives an unexpected opportunity to study English at McGill University in Montreal. Eager to escape her routine existence in Poland, she embraces this chance, leaving behind her job, her husband, and her homeland. However, her new life is soon overshadowed by the declaration of martial law back home. Over the years, Anna builds a life with William, a music professor, but tragedy strikes when he dies unexpectedly, leaving her to navigate the complexities of grief and betrayal.

As Anna mourns her husband, she uncovers shocking truths about their marriage, including a long-distance affair William had with a German journalist. This revelation compels Anna to confront the lies that have shaped her life and relationships. In her quest for understanding, she decides to return to Europe, a continent transformed since she left. The fall of Communism and the dismantling of the Berlin Wall symbolize not only political change but also the personal upheaval she faces as she revisits her past.

Through her journey, Necessary Lies explores themes of betrayal, forgiveness, and the intricate web of secrets that bind individuals and nations. As Anna seeks closure, she must reevaluate her choices and the motives that led her away from Poland. Along the way, she encounters figures from her past, including her mother and William's lover, Ursula, who offer new perspectives on her life and decisions.

[Stachniak's] human comedy is the oldest and best sort. Woven through the inevitable sadness is wonder at the revelation of human complexity and resilience. -- Jim Bartley * The Globe and Mail *
...the book that satisfied my three fictive R's: real people, real places, real emotions. -- Carmine Starnino * Books in Canada *
Offering a wealth of appealing sensory detail with what Clark Blaise once termed "authorial generosity" (I saw the streets of the cities, the shape and colour of people's clothes, tasted the food), the novel portrays the lives of Central European characters as journeys of survival in an age of tribal atrocities, whether those atrocities were cloaked in Nazism, Communism, or national vengeance. -- Julie Keith * Books in Canada *
It's not easy for a fiction writer to keep up with history when it's this big, but Stachniak and her characters do precisely that - as their own secrets and lies and hard-worn resilience parallel the extraordinary events happening around them. Necessary Lies is a brave and ambitious novel and a worthy winner. -- Joel Yanofsky * Books in Canada *
Necessary Lies serves to remind where we are by reminding where many of us have come from. -- Olga Stein, Editor * Books in Canada *
Themes of personal betrayal, collective denial and historically divided identities initially drive this story. Stachniak's world is convincing and carefully wrought ... Necessary Lies satisfies most with the expressive fluidity of its prose, and its sharp portrait of a woman grappling with a bitter legacy. -- Jim Bartley * The Globe and Mail *

  • Winner of Amazon.com/Books in Canada First Novel Prize 2000 (Canada)

ISBN: 9780889242951

Dimensions: 215mm x 139mm x 25mm

Weight: 290g

300 pages