I listened to an advance copy of The Lies They Told by Ellen Marie Wiseman, and Elisabeth Rodgers’ narration was nothing short of extraordinary. She flawlessly carried the voices of men, women, and children, all while mastering a range of regional accents so seamlessly that it was hard to believe it was just one person performing. She deserves every bit of recognition for her incredible work bringing this story to life.

In 1930s Virginia, young immigrant mother Lena Conti is torn from her family and thrust into a community targeted by the state’s eugenics policies, where families face eviction, forced sterilization, and the loss of their children. Determined to protect her daughter and the people who have become her home, Lena must fight impossible odds to survive and reunite with those she loves.

This book is going to enrage you, not because of anything lacking in its execution, but because of how vividly it exposes one of the darkest chapters in U.S. history. Although fictional, Wiseman’s story is steeped in meticulous research, immersing readers in a time when America was a leading champion of the eugenics movement. I felt disgust, rage, and deep sadness for the people who only wanted to build a life for their families, whether on a quiet patch of Blue Ridge Mountain land or as immigrants pursuing the promise of opportunity.

As I listened, I could not help but picture my Italian, Russian, and other European ancestors stepping onto Ellis Island, and the pride I had always felt in their bravery now felt complicated, shadowed by the knowledge of the disdain and abuse they may have endured. The depictions of Lena and her family’s treatment during the immigration process turned my stomach, as did the realization that so many witnessed these injustices and allowed them to continue. It was not just Ellis Island, either. The families in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where Lena eventually lands, faced their own quiet war as the government schemed to seize their homes, displace their communities, and justify it by branding parents and even children as “feebleminded.” Many of these children were torn from their families, institutionalized, and even sterilized, all to make way for the government’s plans. Learning that Shenandoah National Park was built, in part, on land taken from these settlers under false pretenses was another gut punch, eerily echoing how land was stolen from Indigenous peoples.

Like I said, this book will make you angry. But it will also move you, because Wiseman delivers a powerful, unflinching, and human story that shines light on a history too often forgotten. Any novel that can stir such strong emotion and educate along the way deserves high esteem, and The Lies They Told is exactly that.

Thank you to NetGalley and RBmedia for the advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book is incredible. Not only is the story beautifully written, it also taught me so much about the history of the country I live in. I would consider this a must read for anyone who enjoys historical fiction and wants to learn more about the complicated and horrific history of the world.
The characters made this story a beautiful tragedy. I felt connected to the characters from the start.
The audio narration was wonderfully done. I enjoyed every second and could not put it down.
Another 5/5 read from Ellen Marie Wiseman for me.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC audiobook!

I received an advanced listening copy of this book and found the audiobook top tier. Ellen Marie Wiseman’s illumination of a shameful untold part of our history is compelling, thought provoking, and timely. Elisabeth Rodger's narration seamlessly tackles different accents and even sings to help the story come to life. A must read historical fiction that I won't soon forget.

Thanks to NetGalley and RBmedia | Recorded Books for allowing me to listen to this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

THE LIES THEY TOLD US
By Ellen Marie Wiseman
Narrated by Elizabeth Rodgers

How one young woman’s dream of a better life in America is shattered by eugenics…

Thank you to NetGalley, RBmedia, and Kensington Publishing for both the audio and ebook, which I paired during my reading.

This historical fiction novel is set in the 1930s and follows Lena Conti, a young immigrant who has just arrived from Germany with her two-year-old daughter. After witnessing families being forcibly separated on Ellis Island, Lena finds herself in rural Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, caring for the home and children of a distant relative, Silas Wolfe. But what she and the townspeople face there is unthinkable—a chilling and dark chapter in American history.

I thought the author portrayed the emotional turmoil of the characters in rich, vivid detail. The story touches on trauma, grief, and resilience. Lena, in particular, is portrayed with depth—compelling, and deeply human. The blend of historical fiction with suspenseful drama is done exceptionally well.

Elizabeth Rodgers’ narration was also excellent—she brought the characters to life with emotion and nuance, capturing both their strength and vulnerability in a way that deepened the impact of the story.

This is my sixth book by Ellen Marie Wiseman, and I continue to be impressed by her ability to bring history to life. I look forward to reading more of her work.

The American eugenics movement, which plays a central role in this novel, is shocking and disturbing. The U.S. was the first country to implement forced sterilization, and many of its ideas were later adopted by the Nazi regime. We all know what happened in the Nazi regime in Germany. The author’s note provides even more astonishing historical context. It’s well worth reading. A powerful book club choice—there’s so much to discuss, especially the disturbing role eugenics played in our country’s past.

Wow. This book...I loved it, it's beautifully written and heartbreaking. I finished it an hour ago and I'm still speechless.

This was my first book by this author and I was 𝘯𝘰𝘵 disappointed (though What She Left Behind has been on my tbr for awhile now).
I saw this on Netgalley, read the blurb, and immediately wanted to read it, sent in a thing hoping to be accepted for the alc and got access to it just a few hours later.

I 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 historical fiction when I read it, though it's not too often.
This book is set in the 1930's and follows our main character, Lena, who leaves Germany with her mother, two year old daughter and teenage brother and arrive on Ellis Island. With plans to work for a distant cousin of her mother's. Once they're all examined and put through tests, only Lena and Ella are allowed into the country while her brother is called feebleminded and denied entry, and as her brother is only fourteen, her mother is being sent back as well. Lena then goes and finds a distant cousin of her mother's, who they were going to work for, Silas Wolfe ─expecting Lena's mother & brother, not a young mother with a child─ reluctantly agrees to let Lena come work for him and has her take care of his two children and home. Soon, Lena learns that the children of the Wolfe house had been taught to hide when she sheriff comes by. The state is trying to take the kids away from their father, calling him unfit to be a parent. All while also trying to make the town seem like they're less than people, dirty people who are no less than farm animals. Later, they manage to take the kids, and they take Lena too, take her to the Virginia State Colony for feebleminded and epileptic people, despite being perfectly fine. Separated from Ella and the Wolfe children, Lena hopes to find them again, but isn't sure if she can or ever will.



This book was so beautifully written and heartbreaking and I can't ever imagine having to go through this, doesn't even seem real to me that people have. The ending was a perfect way to wrap up the story.
This book was started and finished as an audiobook/alc. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me listen to this early.

Thanks to Netgally and the publisher for an advanced copy of the audio book in exchange for an honest review!
Yall!! This book was incredible!!! It was heartbreaking at times, and I honestly felt so much rage towards certain characters. I don't know if a book has ever made me hate certain characters so much. But the story? This story is fantastic. The audio book was amazing. The narrator did such an awesome job giving each character their own voice and personality. This is one of those situations where I 100% think the audio version would be better than a physical book or ebook. I also learned so much about the history of eugenics in our country. The author's note mentioned other books she's written that touch on the subject, and I want to devour them all. Honestly my tbr just grew by however many books the author has written, period. I don't know how this was my first by her.
Listen to the audio version of this one. But be prepared to feel all the feelings.

Awesome book. I have read e books by this author but this is the first audio book by the author. I am going back and listening to books I’ve already ready. Very informative and interesting. 10 out 10

This book completely opened my eyes.

I had never learned about the Eugenics Movement in the United States, or how deeply it impacted both immigrants and generations of people living in the Blue Ridge Mountains—families who were labeled as “feebleminded,” forced from their land, and torn apart under the guise of public good. I was especially shocked to learn that the very land that would become Shenandoah National Park was once home to thriving communities who were pushed out, sterilized, or institutionalized. It’s horrifying and heartbreaking.

As a first-generation German-American—my mother immigrated after WWII as a child on a steamship—I felt a deep connection to the early parts of the book set at Ellis Island. The fear, the confusion, the injustice Lena experiences as an immigrant mother fighting to protect her daughter really hit home. Like many, I assumed the way immigrants are treated today is a recent development, but this story makes it clear that the roots of this cruelty run much deeper.

Lena’s journey is emotional and unforgettable. I loved the glimpses of German language and culture throughout the book—it made me feel even more connected. But beyond that, I was just so moved by the resilience and quiet strength of the people in this story—especially the children, the women, and the families who tried to hold on to what little they had in the face of a system built to tear them down.

If you’re a fan of Kristin Hannah’s books—especially ones that follow characters over many years, through trauma, survival, and the search for eventual healing—this one is for you. The Lies They Told is a powerful and devastating story that will stay with me for a long time. I highly recommend it.



Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced audio copy in exchange for my honest review. As this is an audiobook, I would like to include that the narrator, Elisabeth Rodgers, was fantastic!

The Lies They Told by Ellen Marie Wiseman
Narrated by Elisabeth Rodgers

In the late 1920s, nineteen year old Lena Conti's mother and brother have been sponsored by a distant relative, Silas Wolfe, to come from Germany to Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains so that her mom can care for his home and children while her brother can work with widower. They don't tell Silas that unmarried Lena and her two year old daughter are coming too, hoping he won't mind that she's been added to the people he will be bringing into his household and supporting. When Lena's mother and brother are turned back to Germany, Lena and her daughter are not the two people Silas was expecting. Silas is a hard and unhappy man and we will learn why farther into the story.

Lena thought she would be moving into a home much nicer than the weathered old cabin that is the home of Silas and his two children. The cabin has been in Silas's family for generations, the Blue Ridge Mountains are the only home he has known, and he never plans to leave this place. He's had more than enough heartache in his life already but Lena learns that the State of Virginia has other plans for the land of Silas and all the other people who have lived on the land around him for generations. The Eugenics Office is the perfect vehicle for social workers and others to label the land owners as possessing inferior genes (their words, their labels, not mine), and many of the land owners and their children are sent to the Virginia State Colony for the Feebleminded and Epileptics, all against their will.

Forced sterilization is the norm at this place and the only way for some people to ever be allowed out of this place. There are so many ways that adults and children lose their freedom through false "imprisonment" and surgeries to make sure they can never have children. Desirable children are taken from the land owners and given to those who are deemed of fitting genetics. All these things makes it easier to run the land owners and their families off their own land, one way or another.

The story of Lena, her mother and brother is sad and while it's going on, the story of Silas and his neighbors is horrible, also. Families torn apart in the name of Eugenics and property torn from the hands of people whose family have owned that land for generations, with nothing or almost nothing in return. It's a very sad time in history for all involved. This is just one more opportunity to learn what was done to people who had no resources to fight back. Fighting back could mean being locked up forever and/or death. It also could mean never having children or never having more children and losing the children a person had already. Heartbreaking from beginning to end although there is a light at the end of the tunnel for some of the characters in this story. Elisabeth Rodgers does a great job of narrating the story and singing the songs the story contains.

Thank you to RBmedia | Recorded Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

This one crushed me quite a bit. It exposed so much disgusting behavior from the 1930's related to the eugenics movement. I know this sounds naive but it is truly hard to digest that so many people bought into that evil way of thinking. So many families were torn about for no reason. Lena's story will haunt me as I remember that she came to the US to provide a better life for her daughter and the horrors that followed. This had to be a hard story for Ellen Marie Wiseman to write and I can only imagine the tremendous research that had to be done. Elisabeth Rodgers was a perfect narrator for this emotional story.

Thank you to NetGalley and RBmedia for the advanced copy for my honest feedback.

Wow wow wow. This was my first book by this author and I'm now planning to go back through her backlist because I loved this one that much. I definitely agree with the comparisons to Kristin Hannah as this was a great retelling of a historical time period that also creates characters and relationships that feel so real and that gets you feeling all of your emotions.

We originally meet the FMC, Lena Conti, in 1928 as she is arriving on Ellis Island with her family and from there we follow her experience in the United States.

Lena's story is both an immigrant story and how they were (are?!) treated as outsiders by many. Lena ends up in rural Virginia with extended family and the story that unfolds is heartbreaking and tense.

While I had heard of the term "eugenics" before this novel, admittedly, I did not know what it meant or any details about it. This novel shed a horrifying light on this practice so I am very interested in learning more.

The audiobook was extremely well read and well done. There was enough emotion without being overly dramatic and I thought the different voices by the narrator were perfect.

This was my first time to read this author, but definitely won't be my last. I was amazed at her ability to draw me, as the reader, into the lives of each of the characters and to feel that I was actually there with each of them, seeing what they were seeing and feeling. Eugenics is not something that I had ever thought about and yet, the horrors of how these people were treated is so relevant in today's world.
I especially was drawn to the main character, Magdalena (what a beautiful name). Her courage and strength throughout the book from the horrors she experienced upon entering our country at Ellis Island were unthinkable. Because there were so many sad and tragic events throughout the book, I thought the author did a wonderful job of threading respite and relief and joy as Magdalena developed a loving relationships with Jack Henry and Bonnie. It was especially heartening to see how they warmed to her. As with so many immigrants to the USA today, she left a war torn country for a better life here, only to be treated as a second class citizen, along with her family here and ultimately being treated inhumanely by those in power.

I just love historical fiction set in the states so I was excited to see this was set in Virginia in the 1930s. It was such a heart breaking but wonderful book. I loved it so much. I felt so many emotions while reading from smiling all the way to being heart broken and having tears stream down my cheeks. The author made you fall in love with the characters. Even the side characters(people who live up on the mountain) were just wonderful. The characters you are supposed to hate, trust me you will hate them. Such a great 5 star read!!

Thanks to NetGalley and RB Media for a gifted copy in exchange for a honest review.

Overall amazing.
Firstly, each character in this book wound tightly around my heart. Each character was so well written and I grew attached to each of them. Even if some character’s stories had a tragic end, the story was told and it left no hole which I appreciated.
This was such an immersive read. Growing up in Southern Kentucky— in an old wooden house deep in a hollar, similar to the main characters— I was able to relate to the atmosphere the story offered up. During this read I found myself getting nostalgic for the life I lived in my youth, similar to Bonnie.
This story’s focus of eugenics (which by the way.. still relevant today even though we are nearly a century into the future!) was something I had never thought of or really understood about America’s past. & The author’s note at the end had me so amazed that even though the thought of sterilization/hospitalization is such a dystopian concept, it was once a part of REAL American history.
I could go on and on but I believe this was a wonderful read. Will be looking at other titles by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and RBmedia/Recorded Books for the ARC. I struggle on how I want to rate this book. It was a bit slower than I was use to by this author but it did definitely pick up in the end. It is still not my favorite book by her but was well done. I almost found the author’s note more disturbing than I did the book…She definitely makes you think about stuff that went on in our history. The audio version was perfectly fine.

The Lies They Told by Ellen Marie Wiseman’s is a moving and heart wrenching exploration of the eugenics movement in the 1930’s. This is a story of survival, resilience, and hope told through the eyes of a young immigrant mother named Lena. Her journey reveals the cruelty and prejudice of society during this time. The author exposes the horrors of forced sterilization and the stigmatization of immigrants. This novel also celebrates the unyielding power of a mother’s love. I loved that this author has the ability to balance an emotionally tense topic with historical accuracy, and was able to shed light on this period in history. I really liked the audio narration by Elisabeth Rodgers. She made the story so easy to get into and gave the characters a lot of personality.