“The belief in human goodness is a prejudice hard to refute. Wouldn’t it be more sensible, Henry wondered, …..to believe in the self-evident badness of human beings? In his case, for instance, sporadic acts of goodness….were nothing but brief interruptions to his innate wickedness”

The Truth and Other Lies is the first novel by German playwright, Sascha Arango. Henry Hayden is a best-selling author of crime novels, happily married to Martha (even if he also sleeps with his editor, Betty), generous with friends and pleasant to his fans. But Henry has a secret (or two), and when Betty announces she is pregnant, the façade of his comfortable existence threatens to collapse. Henry acts to preserve the status quo, but things don’t quite go to plan.

Arango gives the reader an intriguing plot with plenty of twists, wrinkles and complications. His novel is riddled with delicious ironies, misdirection and plenty of black humour. Arango manages to include a synaesthete, a troublesome marten, a failing fishmonger, a not quite tenacious enough detective, an envious class-mate, unrequited lovers, an almost-finished manuscript and a very big “oops” moment. While Henry’s lies and his sheer audacity will leave readers gasping, many will find themselves almost wanting him to get away with it, or at least, feeling some sympathy for him.

Arango gives his characters some astute observations: “You don’t have to be famous to be happy, especially as popularity is all too often confused with significance” and “Men are never more cowardly and their lies never more pathetic than when they’re caught with their pants down” and “Martha had warned him that success was a mere shadow that shifts with the moving sun” are examples. Also a succinct definition: “If I see or hear something and everyone else pretends there’s nothing there, then I know it’s a conspiracy”

The reader is also treated to some marvellous descriptive prose: “The chapter fell seamlessly in line with the previous one; the story flowed towards its climax with such assurance that it was as if, instead of having been thought up, it had emerged from itself, like a plant from a seed” and “The cataract of words poured out of …’s brain and straight through the machine onto the paper; not a single word got spilt” on writing; also “A secret like this is a parasite. It feeds on you and grows bigger and bigger. It wants to get out of you, it gnaws its way through your heart, it wants to get out of your mouth, it crawls through your eyes!”

This aptly titled novel is flawlessly translated from German by Imogen Taylor, and the Text Publishing edition has a colourful and imaginative cover by W H Chong. They offer a money-back “Love it” guarantee, and while this book is probably not for everyone, that guarantee would seem a fairly safe bet with many readers. This is a stunning debut and readers will look forward to more from this talented author.