A mother faces an impossible dilemma as her daughter's future hangs in the balance.
On her fifty-eighth birthday, Veronica Harmon feels blessed--with a fulfilling veterinary career, a wonderful marriage and three grown children, her youngest newly engaged and celebrating her first solo art show that very night. But when Veronica meets her daughter's future in-laws, Ted and Belinda, who've flown across the country for the show, she is shocked to recognize Ted from an incident during high school that changed the trajectory of her life. Having never told a soul about that night, Veronica's past reemerges like a live grenade.
Over the course of a pre-arranged weekend at the Harmon's home intended to better acquaint the two families, Veronica unearths troubling memories, questions her own recollections and grapples with the impossible. If she quietly welcomes this man as a permanent part of her family she will be forced to live with a devastating lie, but if she reveals their shared history, she will expose her private shame and destroy her daughter's future. Just when she thinks there is no viable solution, she has an epiphany that flips the script on what it means to be a survivor and the choices that are hers to make.
Thought-provoking and heartfelt, This Much is True is the story of one woman's quest to face destructive cultural norms, unshackle herself from the shame heaped upon survivors, and ultimately break free.
About the Author :
Katherine A. Sherbrooke is the award-winning author of three novels: the New York Times notable Leaving Coy's Hill, which was a finalist for the Massachusetts Book Award; Fill the Sky, finalist for the Foreward INDIES Book of the Year and winner of an Independent Press Award, and The Hidden Life of Aster Kelly. Her work has also appeared in Cognoscenti and Zibby Magazine. She served as Chair of the Board of GrubStreet, the nation's premier creative writing center, from 2013-2023 and lives on the South Shore of Massachusetts. Visit www.kasherbrooke.com for more.
Chelsea Kwoka is a Los Angeles-based voice and on-camera actor known for her dynamic range and engaging performances. A Florida native, she earned her bachelor's degree in theater from Florida State University. She enjoys bringing rich characters to life and tends to voice strong female heroines with wit and warmth. Chelsea has worked extensively in both audiobooks and video games, where characters and story reign supreme. With her classical training she understands the nuance needed to bring individuality to each character when working in such complex worlds. Her work is most notably in romance, science fiction, and thrillers. Beyond voice acting, Chelsea produces and acts in films focused on female driven stories. Outside of her professional endeavors, Chelsea is passionate about hiking and camping in Southern California. She is currently studying French and teaches a stroller-Barre class for mothers in early postpartum. When she is not acting professionally, she is still performing for her two young children in their imaginative stories and games. Sharon Huff is routinely rated five stars for her audiobook narrations. Her rich and nuanced reads take books to the next level. She loves living every character and getting into the middle of every moment of a book and bringing it to life.
Review :
"Astute, arresting, and profound, This Much is True is your mother's story and your father's, your daughter's and your son's, your sister's and your brother's. So many women have been waiting to read this novel and so many men need to read it."
-- "Susan Donovan Bernhard, author of Winter Loon"
"In this artfully crafted novel, a woman grapples with a long-hidden secret that threatens to upend everything she loves. This Much is True confronts sexual assault with unflinching clarity, while Sherbrooke skillfully weaves moments of tenderness with piercing outrage. For so many reasons, this story--and this reckoning--will stay with me for a long time."
-- "JJ Elliot, author of There Are No Rules for This"
"Packed with relatable emotion, This Much is True by Katherine A. Sherbrooke portrays the devastating shadow of betrayal and its power to impact a present-day marriage and precarious mother-daughter relationship. Brace yourself for an ending that is as surprising as it is deeply satisfying."
-- "Lynne Reeves, author of The Dangers of an Ordinary Night"
"Sherbrooke's vivid prose transported me back to high school, complete with searing memories that can be at once technicolor, yet blurry. Anyone who lived through the 80s likely has had to revisit that era's rules and re-examine what we thought we knew. This book asks important questions about what we as women are forced to carry and what it takes to lay those burdens down."
-- "Alisyn Camerota, award-winning journalist and author of Combat Love"
"Women of my generation have been waiting for This Much is True ever since we watched Sixteen Candles as teenagers and shifted uncomfortably in our seats. Katherine Sherbrooke's Veronica embodies our confused silence, makes sense of it, and then asks what happens if we refocus our collective lens and put all the pieces where they really belong."
-- "Michelle Lerner, author of Ring"
