âHas the page-turning quality of a thriller.â âNPR
âStrange and wonderfulâŚA book for our times.â âThe New York Times Book Review
âPropulsiveâŚmesmerizingâŚbreathtaking.â âPublishers Weekly (starred review)
This unforgettable memoir traces the ramifications of a series of lies that threaten to derail the authorâs lifeâexploring the line between fact and fiction, reality and conspiracy.
In To Name the Bigger Lie, Sarah Viren âhas pulled off a magic trick of fantastic proportionâ (The Washington Post), telling the story of an all-too-real investigation into her personal and professional life that she expands into a profound exploration of the nature of truth. The memoir begins as Viren is researching what she believes will be a book about her high school philosophy teacher, a charismatic instructor who taught her and her classmates to question everythingâeventually, even the reality of historical atrocities. As she digs into the effects of his teachings, her life takes a turn into the fantastical when her wife, Marta, is notified that sheâs being investigated for sexual misconduct at the university where they both teach.
To Name the Bigger Lie follows the investigation as it challenges everything Sarah thought she knew about truth, testimony, and the difference between the two. She knows the claims made against Marta must be lies, and as she attempts to uncover the identity of the person behind them and prove her wifeâs innocence, sheâs drawn back into the questions that her teacher inspired all those years ago: about the nature of truth, the value of skepticism, and the stakes we all have in getting the story right.
An incisive journey into honesty and betrayal, this memoir explores the powerful pull of dangerous conspiracy theories and the pliability of personal narratives in a world dominated by hoaxes and fakes. An âouroboros of a bookâ (The New York Times) and a âbold new approach to the genre of memoirâ (The Millions), To Name the Bigger Lie also reads like the best of psychological thrillersâmade all the more riveting because itâs true.