Once Upon a Lie

The truth can hurt

But a lie can hurt more…

The gripping and emotional new moral thriller from the Richard and Judy and international bestselling author of The Guilty One.

Clare and Lorraine have been friends since college and trust each other with their lives. So when Lorraine, a single mother, needs a much-needed night away without her children, she calls on Clare and her husband Sam to look after them. They’re godparents – what could go wrong?

While Clare and Sam believe the children to be asleep, the unimaginable happens and Clare finds baby Theo lifeless in his room. The police are called. Statements are taken. But the biggest nightmare for any parent is about to spiral out of control. Because a lie has been told. An enormous and terrible one.

Out of Clare, Sam and Lorraine, one of them isn’t telling the truth…

A tragic, gripping and thought-provoking moral thriller, exploring the themes of parenthood and friendship, and the murky grey areas between right and wrong.

Praise for Lisa Ballantyne:

‘One of the most readable, emotionally intense novels of the year’ Richard and Judy

‘Thought-provoking, brave and challenging, this book is an unsettling and compulsive read’ Rosamund Lupton

‘Moving, insightful’ Guardian

‘Grips like a vice’ Daily Mail

‘A tense and moving story that I will remember for a long time’ Rachel Abbott

‘Sophisticated, suspenseful, unsettling’ Lee Child

‘A page-turner with real emotional depth’ Daily Express

‘Thought-provoking and clever’ Gilly Macmillan

‘This tense psychological thriller focuses relentlessly on the way its characters cope as stress piles up and the mess deepens’ Sunday Times

‘I couldn’t get this book out of my head. It kept me up all night and guessing the whole way through. I loved it’ Jenny Colgan

‘An outstanding work of fiction’ Daily Record