Life Sentences

Past and present, truth and memory collide in this searing novel from the award winning, New York Times bestselling author

A successful memoirist returns home to Baltimore searching for inspiration for her next book. When she discovers an old classmate is accused of a heinous crime, she decides to braid this tragic story with reminiscences of her grade school years. To the writer’s dismay, her friends—motivated by anger, perhaps jealousy—seem determined to sabotage her efforts, leaving her to persevere alone.

As she digs deeper into the tragedy surrounding her old classmate, the writer begins to see that everything she thought she knew about her life might be quite different. And if she wants to pursue the truth in this modern-day story, she may have to pay the price of living with uncomfortable truths, about her father, her past, and herself.

With her deep intelligence, unerring eye for detail, and unwavering compassion, Laura Lipmann raises difficult, illuminating questions about the nature of memory and truth. Life Sentences explores the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, asking whether anyone can truly own any story—even their own.