Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Best of 2024 ezine!

Beyond the Book: Background information when reading Beautiful Lies

Summary |  Excerpt |  Reading Guide |  Reviews |  Beyond the Book |  Read-Alikes |  Genres & Themes |  Author Bio

Beautiful Lies by Lisa Unger

Beautiful Lies

A Novel

by Lisa Unger
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus (4):
  • Readers' Rating (4):
  • First Published:
  • Apr 18, 2006, 384 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Dec 2006, 384 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Beyond the Book

This article relates to Beautiful Lies

Print Review

Lisa Unger says that for a long time she didn't believe it was possible to make a living as a writer, "mainly because that's what people always told me", so she went into the profession that brought her closest to her dream - publishing.  A few years later she met her future husband in Key West  and after a whirlwind romance they sold their homes, quit their corporate jobs and moved to Florida. She says that only once she had some distance from New York, could she start appreciating the city and it naturally became the setting for Beautiful Lies.  

When asked what elements of the story come from her own experience she answers, "For me and for most fiction writers, I think, it is true to say that everything and nothing in my work is autobiographical. As much as the plot, the events, and the characters are purely from my imagination, of course all of these things are an amalgamation of my experiences, relationships, observations, literary influences, etc.

When asked specifically whether Ridley is like her in any way she says,  "a good deal of her observations are similar to my own … her reflections on life, love, sex and what defines a family are things with which I might agree if the questions were posed to me."

Beautiful Lies is Unger's first novel. Her next novel, Sliver of Lies, also featuring Ridley Jones, will be published in January 2007.

Filed under

This "beyond the book article" relates to Beautiful Lies. It originally ran in June 2006 and has been updated for the December 2006 paperback edition. Go to magazine.

This review is available to non-members for a limited time. For full access become a member today.
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Small Rain
    Small Rain
    by Garth Greenwell
    At the beginning of Garth Greenwell's novel Small Rain, the protagonist, an unnamed poet in his ...
  • Book Jacket: Daughters of Shandong
    Daughters of Shandong
    by Eve J. Chung
    Daughters of Shandong is the debut novel of Eve J. Chung, a human rights lawyer living in New York. ...
  • Book Jacket: The Women
    The Women
    by Kristin Hannah
    Kristin Hannah's latest historical epic, The Women, is a story of how a war shaped a generation ...
  • Book Jacket: The Wide Wide Sea
    The Wide Wide Sea
    by Hampton Sides
    By 1775, 48-year-old Captain James Cook had completed two highly successful voyages of discovery and...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
In Our Midst
by Nancy Jensen
In Our Midst follows a German immigrant family’s fight for freedom after their internment post–Pearl Harbor.
Who Said...

The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Big Holiday Wordplay 2024

Enter Now

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.