Fiona Palmer's Tiny White Lies is Pure Escapism, With Substance

Fiona Palmer’s Tiny White Lies is Pure Escapism, With Substance

Ashley’s husband had bipolar and recently committed suicide. She has just lost her job and money is tight. Now her daughter Emily is being bullied online. She’s struggling to cope and desperately needs an escape.

Best friend Nikki is holding a huge secret. And why is husband, Chris, receiving so many text messages lately?

Their teenage children are glued to technology, be it PlayStation, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat… With the school holidays coming up, the two women hatch a plan: for three weeks, both families will stay in a rustic, remote coastal camp owned by Chris’ cousin, near Bremer Bay, Western Australia, with no phone reception. While the teenagers struggle to embrace this new world of self-entertaining in the rugged bushland, the adults are trying to maintain a certain facade. Soon, around the flames of the campfire, their tiny white lies might just begin to be exposed.

Fiona Palmer consistently delivers. Like a lot of authors who started in rural romance, Fiona has branched out into the broader women’s lit genre, while still maintaining those great rural settings. As with her previous novels, the landscape looms large here, and Fiona’s descriptions of the bushland and the coast and white sand beaches really sets the tone. I was transported to the rustic cabins in this wild landscape, overlooking the Indian Ocean, as the characters learnt to surf and built campfires – it was the next best thing to being there in our COVID-restricted world.

Friends Ashley and Nikki are both likable and compelling, and their friendship is relatable. Any parent reading this book will understand their concerns around the use of digital devices. Nikki’s husband Chris and his cousin Luke are also well-drawn, as are the teens.

While it’s an easy read, it’s not a light one Tiny White Lies is a story with substance that touches on the familiar: family issues, friendship, love. But into this Fiona has also weaved some serious subjects such as mental illness, suicide, bullying and illness. You quickly become emotionally invested in these characters, their struggles and their growth.

While I’ve read some of Fiona’s other books, this wonderful read with its holiday feel had me checking her backlist and then grabbing a copy of Secrets Between Friends (did someone say cruise?). I’m not yet ready to leave her storytelling cocoon.

Tiny White Lies is pure escapism, pulling all the right heartstrings, adding a dash of humour, and wrapping it all up in great storytelling.

Synopsis

Two families escape the rat race to holiday at a remote coastal retreat, but what lies are they telling themselves and each other? The new family drama by beloved Australian storyteller Fiona PalmerAshley has recently lost her husband. Daughter Emily is being bullied online.Best friend Nikki is holding a huge secret. And why is husband, Chris, receiving so many text messages lately?Their teenage children are glued to technology, be it PlayStation, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat . . .The two women hatch a plan: for three weeks, both families will stay in a rustic, remote coastal camp with no phone reception. While the teenagers struggle to embrace this new world of self-entertaining in the rugged bushland, the adults are trying to maintain a certain facade. Soon, around the flames of the camp fire, their tiny white lies might just begin to be exposed.

Fiona Palmer

Fiona Palmer lives in the tiny rural town of Pingaring in Western Australia, three and a half hours south-east of Perth. She discovered Danielle Steel at the age of eleven, and has now written her own brand of rural romance. She has attended romance writers' groups and received an Australian Society of Authors mentorship for her first novel, The Family Farm. She has extensive farming experience, does the local mail run, and was a speedway-racing driver for seven years. She spends her days writing, helping out in the community and looking after her two children.

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