But once her first novel, Private Relations, was published in 1989, she chose to focus on writing. She also had a private psychotherapy practice, specializing in adolescents. She initially worked at youth counseling agencies before embarking on a career in medical social work in San Diego and Washington, D.C. What happened to Anna Dale? Are the clues to her fate hidden in the decrepit mural Morgan is charged with restoring? Can Morgan overcome her own demons to discover what exists beneath the layers of lies?īestselling author Diane Chamberlain earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in social work at San Diego State University. She doesn't expect to find herself immersed in a small and small-minded town where prejudices run deep, people are hiding secrets, and the price of being different might end in murder. Anna is alone in the world and desperate for work, so she readily accepts the prized assignment. She is selected to paint a mural that will grace the post office in Edenton, North Carolina. North Carolina, 1940: Anna Dale, an artist from New Jersey, wins a national contest. What she finds under the layers of grime is a painting that tells a story of madness, violence, and a conspiracy of small town secrets.

Morgan knows nothing about art restoration, but is desperate to get out of prison, so she accepts. She will be released immediately if she accepts the assignment: restore an old post office mural in a sleepy southern town. Her dream of a career in art is on hold until two mysterious visitors makes her an offer that is too good to turn down.

After taking the fall for a crime she did not commit, she's serving a three-year stint in the North Carolina Women's Correctional Center. North Carolina, 2018: Morgan Christopher's life derailed.

Big lies in a small town book review