When Maya was 14, her father and mother were killed before her eyes. Her older sister, Rebecca, raised her, but something changed between the sisters that fateful night. Secrets kept for many years would only make their relationship even more strained. For appearances they kept up, each loving the other, yet secretly wanting something different. They both became accomplished physicians. Rebecca, the stronger of the two, worked for a volunteer agency that flew all over the world taking care of victims of disasters.

Maya has been married to Adam, another doctor, for several years. Adam desperately wants children and Maya has not been able to carry the babies to full term. Her relationship is strained with Adam, but when their specialist asks a question, Maya finally reveals one of her secrets, which drives Adam away. He feels betrayed that she didn't love him enough to trust him, and they grow father apart.

Rebecca's boyfriend wants to marry her, but she just wants sex when she wants it. And neither wants children. She isn't ready to marry, but when her sister loses yet another baby, something clicks inside Rebecca and she finds she does want children after all.

When a hurricane hits the coast of North Carolina, Rebecca needs help. She asks her brother-in-law to come help with all the wounded. Adam is excited to assist. But when they ask Maya to join them, she is so timid and declines. She's never really gotten over the night her parents were killed and everything scares her. But when Adam goes to help and Maya is left alone with the storm swirling around, she knows she must be with Adam if she is to save her marriage.

Maya goes to the disaster site and impresses both her sister and her husband. She even shakily agrees to get on a helicopter to transport several victims in need of surgery. But when the helicopter crashes and everyone else is killed, Maya wakes up in a cabin on a little island of land surrounded by flood waters. And her life is about to get hellish.

Meanwhile, Rebecca and Adam must come to terms with the final report from search-and-rescue that all were lost in the helicopter crash. How can they go on without Maya? Their grief goes through the normal stages, until they reach the point where they turn to each other and find love. But what happens when Maya returns?

THE LIES WE TOLD is a tender story of two sisters' path toward rediscovering their friendship for each other. Their lack of honest communication into adulthood created a chasm in their relationship that neither woman acknowledged until a tragedy came directly in their path. Diane Chamberlain beautifully bares their dreams and their souls in THE LIES WE TOLD, and I am thoroughly pleased that I had the opportunity to read this novel.