Packed into this engaging debut novel are many women's issues. In TRUTH AND OTHER LIES, Maggie Smith introduces us to Megan Barnes, who relocates to Chicago and moves in with her mother, Helen, after getting fired from her job as an investigative reporter in New York and breaking up with her boyfriend.

Helen’s house, the same house in which Megan grew up, has not changed. Everything is Martha Stewart perfect, as is her controlling, conservative, unemotional mother. But paradoxically, that same person is overly smothering and worries about Megan constantly. We see her advising Megan to take an umbrella because of possible rain and wanting her daughter to be safe in other ways that Megan, sometimes unreasonably, sees as intrusive. While Megan loves her mother, they are practically polar opposites in their beliefs. She can't wait to get a job and move out so she can regain her independence.

"We come to like Megan even as we acknowledge her faults, youth and lack of judgment. She reminds us of ourselves when we were young, and we understand her naiveté."

There are surprises waiting for Megan when she finds out that her mother is running for a US Congressional seat. It would be very difficult to get a job as an investigative reporter until the election is over because her ability to be impartial would be questioned. When she happens to catch the attention of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jocelyn Jones, whom she has idolized, she hopes that her connection will help her get a job. She does get one through Jocelyn, but it’s not what she expected.

In fact, there is a great deal that happens in this novel that is not what Megan expects. The two older women in her life, one whom she put on a pedestal and the other from whom she tried desperately to escape, become extremely important in the story. And what we are led to believe about each of them might just be turned on its head. We also see Megan's relationship with her best friend, Becca. When Becca's needs conflict with Jocelyn's, we wonder who will win.

THE TRUTH AND OTHER LIES is an easy read. We come to like Megan even as we acknowledge her faults, youth and lack of judgment. She reminds us of ourselves when we were young, and we understand her naiveté. We also get to know Helen and Jocelyn, both of whom are savvy and successful, each in her own way. Older readers especially will identify with them; perhaps reflecting on them will make us revisit what we've done that we've kept secret, or what was done to us that we've kept secret.

We all have things that we'd rather not tell others, and the question becomes how far we will go to ensure that our secrets stay that way. Because such decisions more clearly demonstrate who we are now.