The Lie is a refreshingly honest and captivating memoir written by Wiliam Dameron. In his memoir, William shares his experiences with identity.  Nearly ten years after accepting his sexual identity as a gay man, Dameron had his selfie stolen by strangers. After being used as catfish bait, Dameron received countless emails from women who believed him to be a straight white male and the love of their life. While Dameron wasn’t who they thought he was, ironically, there was a time he tried to be that person.

For most of his life, Dameron hid his identity from his wife, his two daughters, and himself. As you would expect, hiding that big of a secret wasn’t easy. Dameron felt isolated in his marriage. He felt like there was no way out. “I had made a decision long ago to be straight. There was no reversing course. Our lives were built on that decision.”

So instead of facing the truth, for awhile he lived in denial. With denial came the abuse of steroids to build an image of himself as a “manly man”. But, deep down Dameron knew it didn’t matter how much he buffed up. As long as he continued to live a lie, he would be unhappy, and so would his family.

One day after his wife flat out asked him if he was gay, Dameron no longer found use in denying it. After spending time becoming painfully self-aware, he was finally ready to admit the truth to both himself and his family. This revelation wasn’t easy for anyone. But eventually, Dameron’s lie resulted in self-acceptance and forgiveness.

While The Lie is Dameron’s personal story on coming out late in life, its discussion of identity is something we can all relate to. As Dameron says, “We are all catfishing the world in some small way.” Many of us struggle with coming to terms with our identity. We either don’t know who we are or we refuse to accept it. William Dameron’s, The Lie encourages you to come out to the world as who you are, whoever that may be.

The Lie is available for purchase on Amazon and is currently free to read with Kindle Unlimited.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for a review. However, all opinions are my own.*