About This Book
Once Upon a Lie is about two strangers who become unlikely friends,only to unintentionally put each other's future in jeopardy. JaleelRobeson, a gifted, eighteen year old black man, falsely accused of murderinghis father in a small Texas town, is on the run. He assumes a newidentity in 1980s Los Angeles as a successful student on his way to college. Alexandra Baten, a restless sixteen year old white teenager, lives in aprivileged Toluca Lake family but feels trapped by her parents' values.
One weekend, she rides her bike into a rundown neighborhood, meeting a youngblack man selling lemonade. Thus begins a friendship between opposites,at least on the surface, but they learn they have more in common than theyimagine. Told from each character's point of view in alternatingchapters, we become involved in a gripping tale of two Americas wherediscontent and violence always lurk under the surface. When they erupt, no one is safe.
​Once Upon a Lie is both afamily drama and a crime drama, as well as an exploration of interracial love, mother-daughter relationships, and a mystery with impossible-to-anticipatetwists.
