Finding Me by Kathryn Cushman

What would you do …
          if you learned your life was a lie?

All her life, Kelli Huddleston has been told the story of a fire - a fire that killed her mother and two siblings when she was an infant. After her father's death, though, she uncovers evidence of a different story, including clippings about a boat accident that killed a young father and his infant daughter. Kelli quietly realizes the story of her life has been a fiction. 

How far would you go to discover… the truth. 

Armed with only a few pictures of what she thinks might be her family, Kelli crosses the country to Tennesse, determined to uncover the truth about what happened over twenty years ago in a small southern town. When the trip threatens to open doors to the past better left shut, and her plans for the future are jeopardized, Kelli is faced with an agonizing choice that will change her life forever. 


Review: What a compelling read. I had to double check part way through this novel to make sure I wasn't reading a true story - I love it when fiction is so believable that you are left wondering if it is actually truth?

Kelli is put into an impossible situation when she discovers that her father is not who he said he was. Not only did her father lie about himself, but he fabricated the deaths of her family members and lied about Kelli's very name.

Kelli is stunned. With the help of her best friend, she begins to research her father's and her old names and discovers that her brother, sister, and mother were not lost in a fire and that the truth of what her father did was much more sinister and horrible than anything she could have ever thought him capable of.

Left shaken to the core and struggling to answer the question, "Who am I?" Kelli travels to Tennesse to find answers.

This is a wonderful novel based in today's small-town Tennesse. I love the candour of this book, the individualities of the cast of characters, and the chance to follow Kelli along this crazy journey.

Kathryn Cushman does a fantastic job creating this story and its characters. I really enjoyed "Finding Me" and give it a thumbs up. 

Book has been provided courtesy of Bethany House and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.
Available at your favourite bookseller from BakerBooks, a division of Baker Publishing Group"

To My Readers… if you found out that your parents lied to you about something really big, like being adopted, your heritage, or maybe having a sibling, what would you do?

a) Eat a vat of ice-cream while sobbing on the phone to your best friend

b) Hit the library and internet and obsessively learn everything you can about the truth

c) Refuse to ever speak to your parents again

d) All of the above