This Much is True: A Novel

by Katherine A. Sherbrooke

A mother faces an impossible dilemma as her daughter’s future hangs in the balance

On her fifty-eighth birthday, Veronica Harmon feels blessed—with a fulfilling veterinary career, a wonderful marriage and three grown children, her youngest newly engaged and celebrating her first solo art show that very night. But when Veronica meets her daughter’s future in-laws, Ted and Belinda, who’ve flown across the country for the show, she is shocked to recognize Ted from an incident during high school that changed the trajectory of her life. Having never told a soul about that night, Veronica’s past reemerges like a live grenade.

Over the course of a pre-arranged weekend at the Harmon’s home intended to better acquaint the two families, Veronica unearths troubling memories, questions her own recollections and grapples with the impossible. If she quietly welcomes this man as a permanent part of her family she will be forced to live with a devastating lie, but if she reveals their shared history, she will expose her private shame and destroy her daughter’s future. Just when she thinks there is no viable solution, she has an epiphany that flips the script on what it means to be a survivor and the choices that are hers to make.

About the Author

Katherine A. Sherbrooke is the award-winning author of three the New York Times notable Leaving Coy’s Hill, which was a finalist for the Massachusetts Book Award; Fill the Sky, finalist for the Foreward INDIES Book of the Year and winner of an Independent Press Award, and The Hidden Life of Aster Kelly. Her work has also appeared in Cognoscenti and Zibby Magazine. She served as Chair of the Board of GrubStreet, the nation’s premier creative writing center, from 2013-2023 and lives on the South Shore of Massachusetts.




Praise for This Much is True

“Astute, arresting, and profound, This Much is True is your mother’s story and your father’s, your daughter’s and your son’s, your sister’s and your brother’s. So many women have been waiting to read this novel and so many men need to read it.”
—Susan Donovan Bernhard, Author of Winter Loon and Westerly

271 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 18, 2026

About the author

Katherine Sherbrooke is the award-winning author of Leaving Coy's Hill , a New York Times notable book which was short-listed for the MA Book Awards, Fill the Sky, a finalist for the Mary Sarton Award and the winner of an Indies book of the year award, The Hidden Life of Aster Kelly, and a family memoir, Finding Home (2011). Her fourth novel, This Much is True, is forthcoming in September 2026. An alumna of Dartmouth College and Stanford Business School, she wanted to be an author from the time she opened her first book, and lived on books like food and water for a long time. Somewhere along the line, though, she caught the start-up bug and co-founded a Boston based company called Circles. After that wonderful 15 year+ entrepreneurial adventure, she "remembered" her original dream and finally sat down to write. She lives outside Boston with her family.

Reviews

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⭐⭐⭐⭐
This Much Is True
Katherine A. Sherbrooke
Publication Date: September 18th, 2026
Sibylline Press | Sibylline Digital First
280 Pages
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Genre: General Fiction | Literary Fiction | Women's Fiction

This was a very emotional story with lots of family drama and trauma from long ago. I liked that it was about the bond between mothers and daughters.

It's Veronica's fifty-eighth birthday, and she has a loving husband, a great job as a vet, and lots of family celebrating her daughter Mara's engagement and art show. Everything seems to be going along just fine until Veronica meets her daughter's future father-in-law, Ted. You see, Ted sexually assaulted Veronica in high school, which she has kept secret from everybody. Most of the story takes place over a single weekend that's supposed to be a celebration bringing two families together. Veronica doesn't know if she should just keep her mouth shut for her daughter's sake and welcome this deviant into the family.

This was a very poignant story, not just about family, but also about the shame women carry when they are actually the victim. Veronica chose to keep her trauma buried, and now it has come back to haunt her. I like what the author did here; even though she was literal about it, she's right in saying you can never really run away from it.

I was compelled from the start. There were so many emotions, and I love books that make me feel. I thought Veronica was a great character—she was multi-layered, relatable, and deeply human. The dual-timeline format worked well; I was just as invested in the present as I was in the past, which doesn't happen often with me. Reading about Veronica and her choices was very engaging, so the pace was consistent throughout the story.

The emotional weight of this one was not lost on me, and the writing was wonderful. It's a book I won't soon forget. Ladies, always remember that telling your truth will shape you and the life you live.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.



Goodreads ratings reflect reader demographics and
popular enthusiasm rather than objective literary merit.

[Lori]

I finished this book in less than 2 days. Surprisingly good flow considering the difficulty of the subject.

[Michael Anderson]

The final act of The Breakfast Club left me with a lot of conflicting thoughts. Ostensibly we’re meant to focus on Sam’s birthday redemption and her romance with Jake … but what of Ted and Caroline?

This book looks at that question and asks ‘who WAS Caroline and who did she become’? The book focuses on Veronica who is 58 (so not the exact same character or story but close enough) and through a series events suddenly finds the equivalents of Jake and Ted back in her orbit and from there the author delves into what would happen and how everything would be handled.

This is not always comfortable, but it is honest. The characters are well drawn and the world is very real to this New Englander - I loved the author’s prose and I was simultaneously chewing through the story while pumping the brakes to be able to savor it more.

Obvious warnings for trauma and sexual assault and rape, but highly recommend it for every single reason possible. I really wish more men would read this very topical book.

[Jkc]

3.5 stars. As much as I am a John Hughes film lover and realize how those movies shaped my childhood, they’re often hard to watch through an adult lens. “The times were different” doesn’t take away from the hurt those situations would have caused. Great premise, good writing.