This profoundly powerful story explores the shocking reality behind one of the darkest episodes in recent American history—the widespread campaign to create a master race...
COMING JULY 29, 2025
About The Lies They Told
In rural 1930s Virginia, a young immigrant mother fights for her dignity and those she loves against America’s rising eugenics movement – when widespread support for policies of prejudice drove imprisonment and forced sterilizations based on class, race, disability, education, and country of origin – in this tragic and uplifting novel of social injustice, survival, and hope for readers of Kristin Hannah and Christina Baker Kline.
Also by Ellen Marie Wiseman
About the Author
Ellen Marie Wiseman is a New York Times bestselling author whose novels have been translated into twenty languages. She loves to write suspenseful historical sagas about everyday people caught up in extraordinary circumstances while shining a light on little-known social injustices of the past and celebrating the resiliency of the human spirit. The rest of the time she likes to cook, watch movies, swim, and play with her grandkids.
Praise for Ellen's Books
"Powerful. Grounded in historical fact, it ends like a fast-paced thriller." - Historical Novel Society
— Historical Novel Society
“A sumptuous plot balances horror and tenderness to reveal lesser-known facets of history… The Life She was Given is a vibrant maze of desires. The sharp divide between expectations and painful truths, mothers and daughters, past and present, culminate in a sensational finale.”
— ForeWord Reviews
“Wiseman excels at creating an atmosphere…her characters are all vividly drawn and complex... Fans of Karen White and Sara Gruen will be drawn in by the drama and mystery of Wiseman’s novel.”
– BookPage
"Stories of WWII rarely look at the lives of the average German; Wiseman eschews the genre’s usual military conflicts in favor of the slow, inexorable pressure of daily life during wartime, lending an intimate and compelling poignancy to this intriguing debut."
— Publishers Weekly
"If you're a fan historical fiction, horror or true crime-or you're just looking for the next discussion-worthy book club pick, don't miss this shocking mash-up of Girl, Interrupted mixed with American Horror Story..."
— Barnes & Nobles
"The Plum Tree will find good company on the literal or electronic shelves of those who appreciated Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian, Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay, and Night by Elie Wiesel. Though in the same picture frame as these great classics, Ms. Wiseman’s story stands firmly on its own two feet and deserves a bright spotlight on the literary stage.”
— The New York Journal of Books
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