A version of the Truth

A Version of the Truth is a lyrical, wise, and mesmerizing story about love, learning, friendship, rare birds and other forces of nature.

Set in the wilds of Topanga Canyon, the story is narrated by Cassie Shaw, a nature lover with innate intelligence and charm who reinvents herself with unexpected consequences.



Much like Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion, Cassie has an unhappy past and is relegated to a life beneath her, but her spirit is uplifted in the outdoors. The eerie, ghostlike call of presumed extinct birds in a secret clearing, the sound of wind in the trees, the harmony of a world without people, all give Cassie a sense of calm. But everywhere else, life is tough. Her mother believes in Big Foot. Her wisecracking but beloved African Grey parrot is a drama queen. And at age thirty, a widow without a college degree, Cassie desperately needs to earn a living, which is why, against all her principles, she lies on her resume for an office job at an elite university, making up facts about herself, creating the person she wants to be.



Her new boss is the magnetic Professor William Conner, an expert in animal behavior who recognizes the intelligence behind Cassie’s bogus resume. Soon, under his charismatic tutelage, Cassie carefully begins her personal transformation, all the while still visiting her secret clearing and her strange, iconic birds. But her future is teetering on one unbearable truth, 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 Version of the Truth is honest, funny and uplifting--a modern, provocative twist on the theme of appearance versus reality and the resulting mysteries, difficulties and disadvantages of telling the truth.



In Literacy and Longing in L.A., hailed as “the most delightful read of the year” by Liz Smith in the New York Post, Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack captivated readers with a brilliantly-imagined first novel which was #1 on the Los Angeles Times Best Seller List and winner of the 2006 Fiction Award from the Southern California Booksellers Association. Now Kaufman and Mack return, introducing a character with a unique voice you’ll never forget.