Award-winning author Sarah Beth Durst’s new novel, “The Lies Among Us,” is a bit of a mystery at first. We are taken aback as we meet Hannah, the first person narrator, when she is inside her mother’s casket just before burial. That’s our first clue that Hannah isn’t a flesh-and-blood person. We quickly learn that Hannah’s mother has just died, leaving only Hannah’s sister Leah. And Leah can’t see or hear Hannah, so basically, Hannah is alone for the first time in her life.

Leah’s point of view is presented in third person narrative, so while we feel closest to Hannah, we also see what had happened to Leah because of their mother’s mental illness, her inability to stop lying. But it’s mostly through Hannah’s eyes that we learn about their family, and their mother in particular. Hannah, the real Hannah, died as a child when she was two years old. But Hannah’s mother refused to believe that. Or she believed that Hannah was dead, but she refused to acknowledge that fact. Until she died, she talked to Hannah (although she couldn’t hear Hannah’s responses), imagined Hannah’s progress as she grew up, and even set a place for Hannah at the table. She talked to others as if Hannah were still alive, and through those lies, Hannah lived on.

Even though Hannah’s mother, like everyone else, couldn’t see her, Hannah learned to live with her mother by inserting herself in her mother’s solo conversations, imagining that what her mother said were responses to Hannah’s comments. Now that her mother is gone, Hannah is not quite sure what will happen to her. One night, following her sister to a dive bar so that her sister can drown her sorrows in alcohol, Hannah sees a shadowy figure like herself. She attempts to follow that man, and that action opens a new world for Hannah. For the first time, she learns what she is and how she came to be. She makes a friend or two, and most importantly, she finally realizes her purpose.

This is a dark novel, missing some of the humor that Durst writes into her other novels. But the subject matter, the lies we tell, is a dark subject. In addition to the thoughtful treatment of what happens to lies once they are told, Durst explores the grief someone might feel when a not-beloved parent dies. We all know people who are completely bereft when their parent passes away because of the depth and fulness of love and affection that they shared. Others, whose parents may have lacked that paternal or maternal feeling, often feel pangs of jealousy or envy, wishing that their parents had engendered such feelings of devotion in them. But there is still grief, as Durst so ably points out. There is the grief from the loss of a parent, but also sadness at the loss of any possibility of having a wonderful relationship with that parent; that unlikely possibility is no longer viable.

What Hannah learns over the course of the story changes her and enables her to effect positive change on her sister, who had been walking a path that veered dangerously close to the one their mother had taken. Hannah’s newfound energy and strength help her give her sister a chance at a brighter future. And Hannah is also determined, with the help of her new friends, to help the world find a brighter future. Or at least as much as she can accomplish toward that end.

This is certainly the kind of story with ideas and thoughts that remain with the reader after turning the last page. The concept regarding lies, the manifestations of lies, and how lies can take on a life of their own, is fascinating. Our present world is filled with lies uttered by serial prevaricators who show no remorse, but rather are proud of lying about everything possible. And doesn’t it make sense, in a strange fantastical way, that those lies would pollute our world? Durst has imagined a world where that very thing happens, and that world is worth thinking — and reading — about.

This review was first posted on Bookreporter.com.