When Maya was 14, her father and mother were killed before her eyes. Her older sister, Rebecca, raised her, but something changed between the sisters that fateful night. Secrets kept for many years would only make their relationship even more strained. For appearances they kept up, each loving the other, yet secretly wanting something different. They both became accomplished physicians. Rebecca, the stronger of the two, worked for a volunteer agency that flew all over the world taking care of victims of disasters.

Maya has been married to Adam, another doctor, for several years. Adam desperately wants children and Maya has not been able to carry the babies to full term. Her relationship is strained with Adam, but when their specialist asks a question, Maya finally reveals one of her secrets, which drives Adam away. He feels betrayed that she didn't love him enough to trust him, and they grow father apart.

Rebecca's boyfriend wants to marry her, but she just wants sex when she wants it. And neither wants children. She isn't ready to marry, but when her sister loses yet another baby, something clicks inside Rebecca and she finds she does want children after all.

When a hurricane hits the coast of North Carolina, Rebecca needs help. She asks her brother-in-law to come help with all the wounded. Adam is excited to assist. But when they ask Maya to join them, she is so timid and declines. She's never really gotten over the night her parents were killed and everything scares her. But when Adam goes to help and Maya is left alone with the storm swirling around, she knows she must be with Adam if she is to save her marriage.

Maya goes to the disaster site and impresses both her sister and her husband. She even shakily agrees to get on a helicopter to transport several victims in need of surgery. But when the helicopter crashes and everyone else is killed, Maya wakes up in a cabin on a little island of land surrounded by flood waters. And her life is about to get hellish.

Meanwhile, Rebecca and Adam must come to terms with the final report from search-and-rescue that all were lost in the helicopter crash. How can they go on without Maya? Their grief goes through the normal stages, until they reach the point where they turn to each other and find love. But what happens when Maya returns?

THE LIES WE TOLD is a tender story of two sisters' path toward rediscovering their friendship for each other. Their lack of honest communication into adulthood created a chasm in their relationship that neither woman acknowledged until a tragedy came directly in their path. Diane Chamberlain beautifully bares their dreams and their souls in THE LIES WE TOLD, and I am thoroughly pleased that I had the opportunity to read this novel.

Book Summary

Maya and Rebecca Ward are both accomplished physicians, but that's where the sisters' similarities end. As teenagers, they witnessed their parents' murder, but it was Rebecca who saved Maya from becoming another of the gunman's victims. The tragedy left Maya cautious and timid, settling for a sedate medical practice with her husband, Adam, while Rebecca became the risk taker.

After a devastating hurricane hits the coast of North Carolina, Rebecca and Adam urge Maya to join them in the relief effort. To please her husband, Maya finally agrees. She loses herself in the care and transport of victims, but when her helicopter crashes into raging floodwaters, there appear to be no survivors. Forced to accept Maya is gone, Rebecca and Adam turn to one another—first for comfort, then in passion—unaware that, miles from civilization, Maya is injured and trapped with strangers she's not certain she can trust. Away from the sister who has always been there to save her, now Maya must find the courage to save herself—unaware that the life she knew has changed forever.