Nothing But the Truth
Binding: Paperback
Imprint: Walker Books
Age 12+
Crime & Mystery Fiction Thrillers Family & Home Stories
Inspired by the true story of a young man's false imprisonment for murder, this is a gripping novel about a daughter’s fight for justice against the odds.
In his first book for teenagers, Dick Lehr, a former reporter for the Boston Globe’s famous Spotlight Team, has re-imagined a case he investigated to create a compelling story about a daughter determined to prove her father’s innocence. On a hot summer night in Boston, a thirteen-year-old African-American girl became the innocent victim of gang-related gunfire. Amid public outcry, an immediate manhunt was on to catch the murderer, and a young African-American man was quickly apprehended, charged, and – wrongly – convicted of the crime.
Trell was only a baby when her father was imprisoned, but she has always been certain of his innocence. Twelve years after his conviction, she persuades a down-on-his-luck reporter and a determined lawyer to help clear her father’s name. As they attempt to uncover back-door deals, track down crucial witnesses and unearth vital evidence that will prove her father’s innocence, it becomes clear that some people in the neighbourhood want to keep this information hidden – at any cost.
Creators
Dick Lehr, an award-winning journalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist, is the co-author, with Gerard O'Neill, of Black Mass, a New York Times bestseller about Boston crime boss Whitey Bulger. It was later made into a film starring Johnny Depp. His most recent book is The Birth of a Movement, which Booklist deemed in a starred review "a remarkable look at the power of mass media and the nascent civil rights movement at a pivotal time in American history." The book was adapted into a PBS documentary that aired on the network's primetime show, Independent Lens, in February 2017. Dick Lehr now teaches journalism at Boston University. He lives near Boston.
