Garden of Lies and Thorns of Truth

Book excerpt: Two blockbusters in one from the New York Times–bestselling author of The Diary about an act of infidelity and its consequences on one woman’s family. In Garden of Lies, Sylvie wants to be a good wife to Gerald, who offers the privileged life she could only dream of. When they wed eight years ago, the country was in the throes of the Depression, and she thought she’d made the right choice. She wants to please her new husband, and bear his children. But no matter how hard she tries, she cannot give him her whole heart. She thinks something is wrong with her until Nikos, the earthy Greek handyman, shows her what real passion is—and gives her a child. Sylvie knows Gerald will never accept the newborn, who looks nothing like him, and she despairs until a fire in the hospital gives her a way out. In the confusion she switches her daughter for another’s, a bold act that resonates through the decades and culminates in one of the most passionate love stories portrayed in contemporary fiction. In Thorns of Truth, Sylvie Rosenthal is dying, and her one great mistake still weighs on her soul. The lives of her natural-born daughter, Rose, and her adopted one, Rachel, are once more turned upside down. In this sequel to the blockbuster Garden of Lies, the two women, bound forever by a secret that only one of them understands, must both find the courage to face the truth.