A Version of the Truth Book

In the wilds of Topanga Canyon, Cassie Shaw is right at home - with the call of birds, the sound of wind in the trees, the harmony of a world without people. But everywhere else, life is a little harder for Cassie. Her mother believes in Big Foot. Her wisecracking pet parrot is a drama queen. And at the age of thirty, newly single and without a college degree, Cassie desperately needs a decent paycheck. Which is why, against all her principles, she lies on her résumé for an office job at an elite university - and then finds herself employed in academia by two professors who are as rare as the birds she covets.

One of her new bosses is Professor William Conner, a sexy, handsome, cheerfully aristocratic expert in animal behavior. Soon, under Conner’s charismatic tutelage, Cassie carefully begins her personal transformation while meeting the kind of people who don’t flock to wildlife preserves - from impossibly brilliant academics to adorably spoiled college boys. But her future - and unlikely new career - is teetering on one unbearable untruth. And Cassie’s masquerade is about to come undone…in a chain of events that will transform her life - and the lives of those around her - forever.

A novel for late bloomers of every exotic shade and stripe, A Version of the Truth is pure entertainment - at once hilarious and wry, lyrical and uplifting.

Publishers Weekly

Narrator Tanya Eby is immensely engaging and likable in the first-person role of Cassie Shaw, a 30-year-old dyslexic nature lover who, desperate for a job, lies about having a college degree to score an administrative assistant position at a university, where she is immediately intrigued by her professor boss. Eby is perfect at conveying Cassie's quirky, well-meaning, self-deprecating and often insecure personality. Her delivery of amusing one-liners is pitch-perfect, and listeners will laugh out loud while rooting for Cassie. Eby also does a marvelous job with the other characters' voices, particularly Cassie's snobby co-worker Allison, whose dialogue fairly drips with smarmy condescension. This well-paced, entertaining story about finding one's place in the world while marching to a different drummer translates well to audio and is well worth a listen. Simultaneous release with the Delacorte hardcover (Reviews, Oct. 22). (Jan.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.