The Year of Necessary Lies

by Kris Radish

One amazing year in a remarkable woman¹s life journey becomes the inspiration for generations when she takes a huge risk, follows her heart, embraces forbidden love, and unwittingly becomes the champion of a winged world that is on the brink of extinction. It’s 1903, the world is poised for drastic change, and Julia Briton is a naive, beautiful Boston socialite who suffers a series of devastating losses and discovers that her beloved husband is involved in the plume trade—the massive slaughter of birds for use in the fashion industry. When Julia is secretly ushered into the early 20th century by a group of brazen female activists, she boldly risks everything and embarks on a perilous journey to the wilds of untamed Florida, a place of great danger where men will stop at nothing to get what they want and where one man, and a faithful friend, force her to make yet more life-changing decisions. Years later, when Julia’s great-granddaughter, Kelly, discovers some hidden tape recordings in her famous great-grandmother's dresser and learns the real truth about Julia’s year, a year that changed the course of history, she must decide what to do with her grandmother's incredible legacy. Will she keep the real “secret of the year”, or will she be brave enough to follow her own heart?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Book Club, Womens Fiction, Novels

327 pages, Paperback

First published August 11, 2015

About the author

Kris started writing the moment she could hold a pencil. She grew up in Wisconsin, graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a journalism degree and hit the ground running. Her father called her "the tornado". She worked as a newspaper reporter, bureau chief, nationally syndicated columnist, magazine writer, university lecturer, bartender, waitress, worm harvester, window washer....to name a few. Her first two books were non-fiction and then Radish became a full-time novelist. The Elegant Gathering of White Snows, Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn, The Sunday List of Dreams, Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral and Searching for Paradise in Parker, P.A., The Shortest Distance Between Two Women, Hearts on a String, Tuesday Night Miracles, A Grand Day to Get Lost and The Year of Necessary Lies have won her acclaim and a great following. Her eleventh novel, A Dangerous Woman From Nowhere is being released in 2017. She is also the author of three works of non-fiction, Gravel on the side of the Road-Stories From A Broad Who Has Been There, Run, Bambi Run-The Beautiful Ex-Cop and Convicted Murderer Who Escaped to Freedom and Won America's Heart and The Birth Order Effect: How to Better Understand Yourself and Others. She is working on a book poetry, two new novels, a book of non-fiction and a few bottles of wine.

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I spotted this book I was drawn to it by both the lovely book cover and the premise of the storyline. So I was really looking forward to reading this book. It was something different from my typical reading.

Ok, so this is a book where the past and present did not merge so well together. I enjoyed the past way more than the present. So it is easy to say that I found Julia and her campaign to save exotic birds way more exciting than her granddaughter, Kelly's voice. So after a while I found myself quickly skipping over the present to get back to the past. I would have been fine staying in the past. However as much as I liked the past, I found I was not as over the top thrilled with this time period as I have been drawn reading other time periods.

So this brings me to the other reason why I gave this book such a low rating. It is because I found most of the other characters not up to par with Julia and the story so drawn out. If the other characters had been more lively and the story just as lively than this would have been another story and I would have given this book a higher rating.

[Tricia Douglas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love all of Kris Radish's books. She always develops women characters that are strong and overcome all odds. Necessary Lies is based on the women back in the early 1900s who helped develop the Audubon Society and pushed for "plume" hunters to stop killing birds for women's hats. I will be attending a retreat next month with Kris. She does one every year and this year we will be on Little St. Simon Island off the coast of Georgia. Kris is a leader in women's issues and helps us stand stronger when facing today's difficult situations. She is on Facebook and, of course, has her own blog. Her books are wonderful, especially Tuesday Night Miracles and Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral. Check her out!

[Abra Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for a book club. The themes of women's empowerment, living life the way you want to, female friendships, and taking care of the environment are all great themes. I felt the writing was overly wordy and the book was too long. In some cases, I felt that the author was talking down to the reader with the repetitiveness. And it was overly dramatic - it seems the primary characters were always sobbing over something.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Radish’s tenth novel highlights women’s role in the Audubon Society campaign to eradicate feathers from ladies’ hats. Her fictional heroine, Julia Briton, is a composite portrait of the many courageous women who stood up to plume hunters and the fashion industry alike in the early years of the twentieth century. “I did not simply want to survive, but to live with great passion and to do something that made a difference in the world,” Julia declares. Recommended to fans of Sue Monk Kidd’s The Invention of Wings.

(See my full review at Foreword.)

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was intrigued by the history of the plume hunting business and how people of the era worked to change it. It was also a time of great change for women, realizing their worth and contributions to society. But, the writing did not work for me. I like characters that are multi-layered, with an author drawing the picture of someone with flaws as well likability. Sadly, the heroine of this story, Julia, was just too good to be true. She was good at everything and everyone became her best friend in moments of meeting. Because of this, it was just too hard to identify with her character.
I also struggled with the flip-flop of time in the story. The current-day storyline had little connection to the storyline of the past. It seemed unnecessary.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! Got hooked from the first page.

[Diane Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Could not stop reading, tried to slow down to make it last. Wanted Julia's story to go.

[Donia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I deeply appreciate the research that must have gone into the writing of this book and I love historical fiction. I wanted so to give this story a 4 or 5 stars but could not. I also lost babies when I was young and had the experience of a distant husband so I thought I might identify with the anguish and depression Julia experiences, but I could not care about Julia. I am a liberated woman so I would have expected to identify with her liberation, but I did not. I've read this story line elsewhere but can't recall the name of the novel. Although I found paragraphs here and there to be entertaining, there is a modern feel to the book that ruins it for me and if memory serves me correctly from my college literature class days that indicates that something is wrong with the "voice", speech, descriptions. As a reader I just didn't feel as though I was in 1904.

I am not overly fond of the need to flip back and forth in time between the grand daughter and the grand mother so I would have preferred the story to have been written without the grand daughter's input.

I wanted so much to give this novel 5 stars and I truly mean no disrespect to the author. I am merely a consumer and tragically, the story just didn't deliver for me. Perhaps some other reader will put their finger on why this book didn't work because the subject matter is ripe, Boston is delightful, the era is robust.

[Constance McKee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book of historical fiction tells the story of a fictional young woman in the early 1900s who becomes a crusader against the slaughter of birds for their decorative plumage. However, it is much more than that. It's a story of early women's rights and independence efforts; suffrage issues are prominent. And it's a story of early conservation efforts. The history and the courage of the characters are interesting, inspiring and enjoyable.

The other elements of the novel are weaker than the historical aspects. In her efforts to pack in a lot of historical characters, the author uses too many implausible meetings: the main character happens to run into Theodore Roosevelt, Edison, and many other historical figures of the times. The protagonist's story is framed by that of her great-granddaughter in the 1970s. This character happens to get kidnapped and then rescued by Joni Mitchell! The frame story doesn't work, and this part had me rolling my eyes. I couldn't suspend my disbelief. Also, the character development is weak.

Still, I'm a bird-lover, and despite it's weaknesses, this is a story that needed to be told, and I enjoyed reading it.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is too sweet for me. There I said it! I wanted to like this book. It follows Julia in 1904 Boston -- and in a year that changed her whole life. She starts out the year as a poor working class woman, becomes a very rich married woman, who has 3 miscarriages (ok not all in that year!), and finds her life purpose of protecting birds from the plume millinery trade. Along the way she has many adventures, finds the strength in her character to keep on her course, and makes many friends. What's not to love about this book? Therein is the problem for me. It was just so sweet, so wonderful and everyone loves each other that after awhile the story lost me. It was too unreal and too kumbyya.

I also found that at the end of a lot of the chapters was that last foreshadowing sentence, for example: little did she know she'd need all her courage next. After awhile I found these sentences to be so predicable that I felt insulted by them.

[Kristin (Kritters Ramblings) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Check out the full review at Kritters Ramblings

With two semi plotlines going on at the same time, one took over a little and I was so glad! The main plotline is fiction, but felt like truth throughout the whole book (and I liked it) was set in 1904 and are actually recorded tapes from a great grandmother reliving a major year in her life as she leaves her privileged life in Boston and goes to Boston to help fight against plume hunters who are killing birds for their feathers for fashion. The secondary plotline is the great grand daughter who finds the tapes and when she first finds them is going through a hard moment in her life and finds comfort in the tapes with her great grand mother's life story unfolding in the tapes.

This was a great concept. Although I absolutely adored one plotline over the other, I still appreciated the inclusion of the secondary plotline.

[Mrs Mommy Booknerd http://mrsmommybooknerd.blogspot.com · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another hit by one of my all time favorite authors, Kris Radish. What I love about Radish's writing is that she finds a way to write with heart, depth and brilliance that get to the soul of her readers. She is not predictable, boring or doing things have done before. Rather she is paving the way to original, compelling and wonderful story telling, wrapped in history and tied with a bow of love. She is just amazing and The Year of Necessary Lies is a story that will resonate with readers far after they shiut the book! 4 stars

[Mae · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book parallels the lives of Julia Britton and her granddaughter, Kelly. In 1903, Julia Britton is a young wife, unready for high society. After experiencing a series of miscarriages, she becomes close to her mother-in-law, who is very invested in the Audubon Society. Julia transforms over the course of the year and, in listening to the tapes left behind, so does her grand-daughter.

[Deborah Wilbrink · Rating 5 out of 5]

The adventures of Julia in 1905, midst the plume hunters of Florida, and the social activist women of Boston, is a very fun and uplifting read. I learned more about the environment and birds along the way... It uses the structure of memoir and as a personal historian, I enjoyed that too. Thanks, Ms. Radish!

[Cara Hinton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book and the strong female characters in it. Very refreshing to see women portrayed in such a positive fashion. In the early 1900's women made a huge difference in the United States from obtaining the right to vote and apparently having a lot to do with stopping the plume trade. Very interesting book, I really enjoyed it.

[Sara Gillespie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd forgotten how much I enjoy Kris Radish.
Spring Breaking in Savannah, and walking thru nature both
yesterday and today brought this story closer to the heart,
even tho a good portion of the story takes place in FL in 1904-05.
Funny, tear inspiring. Just a good little read.

[Debi Stout · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before I talk about the story, I want to say that I am not a fan of flipping back and forth in time between Julia (the grandmother) and Kelly (the granddaughter) to get the whole story. While I would have preferred it to be written without this flipping back and forth, it didn't affect the reader's ability to keep track of the story line.

The Year of Necessary Lies is about a woman named Julia Britton. Julia's great-granddaughter, Kelly, finds her tape recorder and a few tapes and realizes that Julia is famous. Later, when Kelly is older and Julia dies, Kelly and her mom start listening to the tapes and find that Julia is more brave than they think she was. When Julia was growing up, she was poor. She married "rich" and lost three babies trying to bear her husband children.

After experiencing a series of miscarriages, she becomes close to her mother-in-law, who is very invested in the Audubon Society. It is at this time that she discovers the Audubon Society's goal of having feathers removed from hats in the fashion world. Julia then discovers that one of the companies putting these feathers on the hats is actually her husband's company! Julia leaves her husband and home and travels alone to Pelican Island to write and draw what she sees and hears. In this time and era, Julia is very courageous to take this journey and she transforms over the course of the year. By listening to the tapes left behind, her grand-daughter, Kelly, grows too.

While I'm generally not a fan of historical stories, this story was inspirational and at the same time, is a great love story. The Year of Necessary Lies encourages readers to follow their hearts and find their year. Lose yourself in this coming of age novel with a generational story of love and full of secrets!

I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from the publishers and BookSparks in exchange for this post, which is my honest review and unbiased opinion.

[Christine Geery · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read every one of Kris Radish's fiction novels, and have loved them all but for one. Amazingly, it turned out to be the one that changed my life for the better. I love the character studies of everyday women she assembles in her books. Each book has lessons to be learned, and through her characters I have become more knowledgeable about my own life.

"The Year Of Necessary Lies," is quite different from her other novels. It reads like a historical fiction, which I love, because I learned so much about what was happening in the early 1900's in regards to bird slaughtering, done so that women could have beautiful feathers adorning their hats. Before this book came out, I never thought about it. It also intrigued me to learn that even back then, some people were worried about the extinction of animals and the deterioration of our natural resources. Ms Radish's research is impeccable.

The character of Julia Briton evolves from a poor girl, to a high society woman, to a leader in the fight to save her birds. But that is all I am going to say about the plot, because you need to read it for yourselves and discover what a wonderful writer Kris Radish is. I highly recommend this book.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won a free copy of this book through the first reads giveaways sponsored by goodreads and what a lucky day that was for me. Although I am not a fanatical bird lover, I enjoyed reading this story about some of the initial and important members of the Audubon society and their crusade against the plume trade. It's very unusual to find a story with strong female characters during the early 1900's and following one of them through multiple generations of the Briton family. This book was very enlightening for me as I had not previously been exposed to information about the plume trade and how detrimental the fashion of the times was to the avian population. I would enthusiastically recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a multi-generational story with very strong female protagonists. It is extremely well written, information and joy to read.

[Amy Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Book to Savor

This book was so much more than I expected.

On the surface, this book is about a woman who chooses to champion the cause of birds in the early 1900's, when the height of fashion included wearing feathered hats, and the plumage industry made millions. Yet this is so much more than an historical novel. This is the story of a woman who learns who she truly is, what she values, and to live in such a way that she can be true to herself. In doing so, she rejects many of the conventions of the day, and embrace what is truly important to her.

Kris Radish has outdone herself in this book. The writing is eloquent, and the imagery is poignant. My only complaint is one unresolved question at the end, but that's just me wanting the story to keep going. Overall, I would highly recommend this book.

[nikkia neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks SparkPress (a BookSparks imprint) and netgalley for arc.

I was approved for this book after it came out on amazon so Ill just say I don't mind that I paid for this great novel. then got approved for the arc. I live in south Louisiana right by the marsh so I loved reading about how these beautiful birds were saved for future generations. But there is so much more to this book- romance, forbidden passion, and love love love of all kinds.

[Cyndy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ms. Radish's books are uplifting. I had a little trouble getting into this book and I haven't been able to put my finger on anything specific about why that happened. But once I passed that, I fell into a trance with Miss Julia and her birds. There were things left hanging about Miss Julia's life after "the year" - and while the book left me wanting to know more about that, it did not detract from its uplifting messages: be you, be what you want to be, and enjoy your life.

[Pixieanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is really a Young Adult book - not really for grown-ups. It is preachy to the nines and the author throws in nearly every important person alive in 1905 - and the central character, Julia Barton, has met them all !! Imagine! Since I live in the area of Florida she visits in her plume hunting adventure, I enjoyed a old-time look at Pelican Island. I learned about the ills of plume hunting and the beginnings of the Auduban Society. Too simplistic and carboard characters.

[Suzanne Dillon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish that Goodreads offered half stars as I would rate this at 41/2. Kris Radish never disappoints with every one of her books being totally different but always managing to touch on women's issues be it current or early 1900's. I loved this book, learnt a lot about the fight against the plume industry while enjoying reading about women's struggles in 1903. Highly recommended.

[Lee Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kris Radish again captivated me with her characters and story. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Julia coming into her own and the early history of the Plume trade as well as Florida.

I loved this book.

[Ann Burns · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, could not put it down , never wanted it to end. I think it is going to take a long time for me to find a book I liked as much as this .

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure that Kris Radish can write a bad book. Love birds, love nature, love connecting our present to our past. Thanks, Kris!

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Kris Radish books and this one is amazing. Read my review at Penny for my thoughts

[Antonio Azar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had some great moments, especially enjoyed the detailed descriptions of upper class Boston at the turn of the century.

[SueK · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feels like a bit of a departure for Radish. Still the strong woman theme, but not quite the depth to the friendships/relationships.