---
product_id: 11145389
title: "Necessary Lies: A Novel Hardcover – September 3, 2013"
brand: "diane chamberlain"
price: "฿2894"
currency: THB
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 9
url: https://www.desertcart.co.th/products/11145389-necessary-lies-a-novel-hardcover-september-3-2013
store_origin: TH
region: Thailand
---

# Necessary Lies: A Novel Hardcover – September 3, 2013

**Brand:** diane chamberlain
**Price:** ฿2894
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

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- **What is this?** Necessary Lies: A Novel Hardcover – September 3, 2013 by diane chamberlain
- **How much does it cost?** ฿2894 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.co.th](https://www.desertcart.co.th/products/11145389-necessary-lies-a-novel-hardcover-september-3-2013)

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## Description

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Victimization By the System
  

*by K***Y on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 18, 2014*

This novel is well-written. It has a tight plot and all that a story needs to keep the reader reading. I find the idea behind the story difficult to grasp, not because it is not plausible, but because it really did happen. I have heard from various people my whole life on ways to reduce the welfare populations and to read a book where enforced sterilizations are used and the consequences is quite painful. Poor people need work, handouts keep them from achieving goals, but the Hart girls never really had a chance to have life-long goals.When the reader is first introduced to Ivy Hart she is a fifteen-year-old tobacco farm worker with a dream to go to California with the farmer's son. She is unaware that she is already pregnant and will be unable to finish high school. Her family's social worker has already sterilized her sister Mary Ella unbeknownst to the girls and when this betrayal is discovered  it sets off a string of horrible calamities that only time can heal. Ivy is supposed to be dumb or dull-normal in the parlance of IQ tests. I am not sure that is an accurate assessment and apparently neither does her new social worker, Jane Forrester. Jane though gets fired for becoming overly involved in this case because she goes against perceived views of 1960 North Carolina.This novel is well-written. It has a tight plot and all that a story needs to keep the reader reading. I find the idea behind the story difficult to grasp, not because it is not plausible, but because it really did happen. I have heard from various people my whole life on ways to reduce the welfare populations and to read a book where enforced sterilizations are used and the consequences is quite painful. Poor people need work, handouts keep them from achieving goals, but the Hart girls never really had a chance to have life-long goals.When the reader is first introduced to Ivy Hart she is a fifteen-year-old tobacco farm worker with a dream to go to California with the farmer's son. She is unaware that she is already pregnant and will be unable to finish high school. Her family's social worker has already sterilized her sister Mary Ella unbeknownst to the girls and when this betrayal is discovered  it sets off a string of horrible calamities that only time can heal. Ivy is supposed to be dumb or dull-normal in the parlance of IQ tests. I am not sure that is an accurate assessment and apparently neither does her new social worker, Jane Forrester. Jane though gets fired for becoming overly involved in this case because she goes against perceived views of 1960 North Carolina.I am unsure who the hero was in the story. Jane is a badly flawed antagonist and there are many things about her I did not like. There are too many political discussions and women's rights issues for me to sympathized much with her plight. She married the wrong man too quickly and must pay the consequences of a rash decision.Ivy is a child with the weight of the world on her shoulders. Her grandmother has diabetes that is not controlled because the nurse refuses to give her a proper diet plan. Her sister is mentally lost because she watched her father die as a child and her mother was sent away after she attacked the farmer's wife. Her nephew appears to be special because he does not talk. When the boy is placed in Foster Care after getting in to great-grandma's medicine Mary Ella cracks and runs into a truck.Jane Forrester is fired by the agency, but comes to take Ivy away so she does not have to be sterilized, but the baby comes quickly and on Monday morning Jane is arrested and Ivy and her baby are placed in separate foster homes. Ivy escapes and gets to California. It is not quite the ending she and Henry Allen had expected, but they are free and do marry.I found this book to be a provoking argument against social work because the case workers already seemed to make up their minds about who the victims of society are and who the victors should be. In our modern day with smaller families it is interesting that there are even more "Special People" though they come from richer families. Poor people are not stupid. They spend time surviving rather than playing so they do not make the rules. The rules are made by the abusers, both the physical abusers and the people who work for the system.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Excellent read
  

*by E***A on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 27, 2019*

It's been a long time since I read a book where I was as connected to the characters as I was to those in this book.Jane is a young wife settling down in North Carolina with her doctor husband Robert. Robert makes more than enough money to support the couple, however Jane wants to work before settling down to have children. She becomes a caseworker in a rural impoverished area and quickly gets thrust into the world of trying to help the poorest people in the area.Ivy Hart is 15 years old and is often the caretaker of her home; she lives with her older sister, Mary Ella, who is deemed feebleminded, her aging grandmother, and her two year old nephew. Her father has passed away and her mother has been put into a mental institution. The family lives in a tiny house on a tobacco plantation where they work for the Gardiner family who allow them to stay in exchange for working on the plantation. Ivy has a deep bond with her family and also has dreams to better her future.When Jane and Ivy meet, they become friends. Ivy has been determined to be unintelligent and untrustworthy, but Jane can see through that and realizes that Ivy is a determined and hardworking young woman who has been born into an unfortunate situation. Jane works hard to advocate for Ivy and her family and to keep them together. But when multiple tragedies strike, Jane must take actions that she never would have thought of in order to protect Ivy. The two learn that they are more alike than different and have many things in common, despite their extreme differences in lifestyle and upbringing.I loved all of the characters and could picture them so clearly. They all were so dynamic and relatable, despite the fact that I have never been in a situation like them and wasn't yet born when this story took place. The writing was incredibly well done and I felt as if I were there for so much of the story. This was a read for a book club and I suspect it will lead to a great discussion. There are so many dynamics involved that prove that life is never simply black and white.I will admit that I had no idea that forced sterilization went on in the way that it did for so long in order to prevent poor people from having children. That devastated me and I truly learned something from this book. I felt for all of the characters involved in this difficult situation and I could even see how the other social workers involved truly believed they were helping these women. This story taught me something new and also captivated my interest. I was truly sad to see it end. I would highly recommend this book to anyone and I think it is an important read.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Set the bar for my 2022 book club picks
  

*by E***A on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 14, 2022*

I read Necessary Lies for my book club. If this is how my book club is starting 2022, Diane Chamberlain has set a very high bar. I couldn't put it down!This was an incredibly powerful and harrowing story about a teenager and a young woman who are both victims of a cruel system, but in different ways. I cared so much about Ivy and Jane and really wanted them both to "win." Both characters are easy to sympathize with and they have compelling narratives. Everyone who worked against them was easy to despise throughout the story. The descriptions made people and settings so easy to visualize, without taking away from the story itself. They just enhanced everything that was happening. I can't believe I waited nine years to read this novel, but I only started Diane's books a few years ago and still have a lot of catching up to do, as I have a feeling the rest of her earlier work is just as amazing.This is definitely a must-read! Perfect for fans of Kristin Hannah and Ellen Marie Wiseman.Movie casting suggestions:Ivy: Mary-Charles JonesJane: Olivia HoltNonnie: Dale DickeyHenry Allen: Preston BaileyRobert: Glen PowellMary Ella: Juliette AngeloCharlotte Werkman: Anna Paquin

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*Product available on Desertcart Thailand*
*Store origin: TH*
*Last updated: 2026-02-15*