-
The Color of a Lie
- Narrated by: Kevin R. Free, Kim Johnson
- Length: 8 hrs
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $20.70
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
In 1955, a Black family passes for white and moves to a “Whites Only” town in the suburbs. Caught between two worlds, a teen boy puts his family at risk as he uncovers racist secrets about his suburb. A new social justice thriller from the acclaimed author of This Is My America!
Calvin knows how to pass for white. He's done it plenty of times before. For his friends in Chicago, when they wanted food but weren't allowed in a restaurant. For work, when he and his dad would travel for the Green Book.
This is different.
After a tragedy in Chicago forces the family to flee, they resettle in an idyllic all-white suburban town in search of a better life. Calvin's father wants everyone to embrace their new white lifestyles, but it's easier said than done. Hiding your true self is exhausting—which leads Calvin across town where he can make friends who know all of him...and spend more time with his new crush, Lily. But when Calvin starts unraveling dark secrets about the white town and its inhabitants, passing starts to feel even more suffocating—and dangerous—than he could have imagined.
Expertly weaving together real historical events with important reflections on being Black in America, acclaimed author Kim Johnson powerfully connects listeners to the experience of being forced to live a life-threatening lie or embrace an equally deadly truth.
Critic reviews
★ "A highly effective story of a young man’s journey in a time simmering with racial change and resistance."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
★ "[A] searing work. Through Calvin’s perceptive and sincere first-person narration, Johnson examines the complexities of passing privilege and highlights the extreme lengths that those in power will go to uphold white supremacy."—Publishers Weekly, starred review
"This is a solid portrait of a shameful time in U.S. history as well as a dynamic narrative portraying the impacts on everyday people."—Booklist
More from the same
Author
Narrator
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Louder than Words
- By: Ashley Woodfolk, Lexi Underwood
- Narrated by: Lexi Underwood, Mark Turetsky, Mela Lee
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Jordyn Jones transfers to Edgewood High, it's her opportunity to forget everything that happened at her old school. To forget what she and her friends did. To forget who she used to be. That was a different person—this is a fresh start. Now, she's someone new, someone better.
-
-
Real and Raw
- By mike on 07-02-24
By: Ashley Woodfolk, and others
-
This Is My America
- By: Kim Johnson
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Every week, 17-year-old Tracy Beaumont writes letters to Innocence X, asking the organization to help her father, an innocent Black man on death row. After seven years, Tracy is running out of time - her dad has only 267 days left. Then the unthinkable happens. The police arrive in the night, and Tracy's older brother, Jamal, goes from being a bright, promising track star to a "thug" on the run, accused of killing a white girl. Determined to save her brother, Tracy investigates what really happened between Jamal and Angela down at the Pike.
-
-
Wow!
- By Rayna Luvert on 12-28-20
By: Kim Johnson
-
There Is a Door in This Darkness
- By: Kristin Cashore
- Narrated by: Jorjeana Marie, Kristin Cashore
- Length: 13 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wilhelmina Hart is part of the infamous class of 2020. Her high school years began with a shocking presidential election and ended with a pandemic. In the midst of this global turmoil, she also lost one of her beloved aunts, a loss she still feels keenly. Having deferred college, Wilhelmina now lives in a limbo she can see no way out of, like so many of her peers.
By: Kristin Cashore
-
Hearts of Fire and Snow
- By: David Bowles, Guadalupe García McCall
- Narrated by: Ana Osorio, Johnny Rey Diaz
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Blanca Montes wants to make a difference in the world, to do more than her wealthy godfather and spoiled boyfriend think her capable of. So when Greg Chan shows up as a new student at her Nevada school, she is more than intrigued by this handsome, brilliant stranger. But Greg and Blanca are drawn to each other by something stronger--their fates entwined centuries ago. In his first life, Greg was Captain Popoca, and Blanca is the reincarnation of Princess Iztac, who took her own life after believing her beloved Popoca was sent to his death in battle.
By: David Bowles, and others
-
Flawless Girls
- By: Anna-Marie McLemore
- Narrated by: Kim Ramirez
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Soler sisters are infamous in polite society—brazen, rebellious, and raised by their fashionable grandmother who couldn’t care less about which fork goes where. But their grandmother also knows the standards that two Latina young ladies will be held to, so she secures them two coveted places at the Alarie House, a prominent finishing school that turns out first ladies, princesses, and socialites.
-
Love, off the Record
- By: Samantha Markum
- Narrated by: Ellen Quay
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Wyn’s search for the perfect story leads her to an anonymous, campus-wide dating app, she hits it off with a mystery man she thinks might be the cute RA from her dorm. But Wyn is all too familiar with being rejected because of her weight, and she’s hesitant to reveal her identity, even as she grows closer with someone who might be the guy of her dreams. When Three breaks a story that’s closer to home than he or Wyn expects, the two must put aside their differences to expose the truth—and face their real feelings for each other, which threaten everything Wyn has built.
-
-
The characters are GREAT!
- By Hope on 06-26-24
By: Samantha Markum
-
Louder than Words
- By: Ashley Woodfolk, Lexi Underwood
- Narrated by: Lexi Underwood, Mark Turetsky, Mela Lee
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Jordyn Jones transfers to Edgewood High, it's her opportunity to forget everything that happened at her old school. To forget what she and her friends did. To forget who she used to be. That was a different person—this is a fresh start. Now, she's someone new, someone better.
-
-
Real and Raw
- By mike on 07-02-24
By: Ashley Woodfolk, and others
-
This Is My America
- By: Kim Johnson
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Every week, 17-year-old Tracy Beaumont writes letters to Innocence X, asking the organization to help her father, an innocent Black man on death row. After seven years, Tracy is running out of time - her dad has only 267 days left. Then the unthinkable happens. The police arrive in the night, and Tracy's older brother, Jamal, goes from being a bright, promising track star to a "thug" on the run, accused of killing a white girl. Determined to save her brother, Tracy investigates what really happened between Jamal and Angela down at the Pike.
-
-
Wow!
- By Rayna Luvert on 12-28-20
By: Kim Johnson
-
There Is a Door in This Darkness
- By: Kristin Cashore
- Narrated by: Jorjeana Marie, Kristin Cashore
- Length: 13 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wilhelmina Hart is part of the infamous class of 2020. Her high school years began with a shocking presidential election and ended with a pandemic. In the midst of this global turmoil, she also lost one of her beloved aunts, a loss she still feels keenly. Having deferred college, Wilhelmina now lives in a limbo she can see no way out of, like so many of her peers.
By: Kristin Cashore
-
Hearts of Fire and Snow
- By: David Bowles, Guadalupe García McCall
- Narrated by: Ana Osorio, Johnny Rey Diaz
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Blanca Montes wants to make a difference in the world, to do more than her wealthy godfather and spoiled boyfriend think her capable of. So when Greg Chan shows up as a new student at her Nevada school, she is more than intrigued by this handsome, brilliant stranger. But Greg and Blanca are drawn to each other by something stronger--their fates entwined centuries ago. In his first life, Greg was Captain Popoca, and Blanca is the reincarnation of Princess Iztac, who took her own life after believing her beloved Popoca was sent to his death in battle.
By: David Bowles, and others
-
Flawless Girls
- By: Anna-Marie McLemore
- Narrated by: Kim Ramirez
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Soler sisters are infamous in polite society—brazen, rebellious, and raised by their fashionable grandmother who couldn’t care less about which fork goes where. But their grandmother also knows the standards that two Latina young ladies will be held to, so she secures them two coveted places at the Alarie House, a prominent finishing school that turns out first ladies, princesses, and socialites.
-
Love, off the Record
- By: Samantha Markum
- Narrated by: Ellen Quay
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Wyn’s search for the perfect story leads her to an anonymous, campus-wide dating app, she hits it off with a mystery man she thinks might be the cute RA from her dorm. But Wyn is all too familiar with being rejected because of her weight, and she’s hesitant to reveal her identity, even as she grows closer with someone who might be the guy of her dreams. When Three breaks a story that’s closer to home than he or Wyn expects, the two must put aside their differences to expose the truth—and face their real feelings for each other, which threaten everything Wyn has built.
-
-
The characters are GREAT!
- By Hope on 06-26-24
By: Samantha Markum
-
Invisible Son
- By: Kim Johnson
- Narrated by: Guy Lockard, Kim Johnson
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Andre Jackson is determined to reclaim his identity. But returning from juvie doesn’t feel like coming home. His Portland, Oregon, neighborhood is rapidly gentrifying, and COVID-19 shuts down school before he can return. And Andre’s suspicions about his arrest for a crime he didn’t commit even taint his friendships. It’s as if his whole life has been erased. The one thing Andre is counting on is his relationship with the Whitaker kids—especially his longtime crush, Sierra.
-
-
Today's society
- By Letecia Walton on 02-08-24
By: Kim Johnson
-
The Wilderness of Girls
- By: Madeline Claire Franklin
- Narrated by: Rebecca Soler
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After being placed in foster care, Rhi is hungry for a fresh start and begins working at the Happy Valley Wildlife Preserve. While in the woods, she stumbles upon a surreal sight: a pack of wolves guarding four feral and majestic girls. After Rhi gains their trust, they reveal that they’re princesses from another land, raised by a magical prophet they call Mother—and they're convinced Rhi is their lost fifth sister. Unsure what to believe, Rhi ushers the girls to civilization, where they’re met with societal uproar and scrutiny, dubbed “The Wild Girls of Happy Valley.”
-
-
An outstanding debut!
- By Anon Y. Mous on 06-12-24
-
The World on Either Side
- By: Diane Terrana
- Narrated by: Eunice Wong
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the death of her boyfriend, sixteen-year-old Valentine stops going to school, quits seeing her friends and, finally, won't leave her bed. Desperate for her daughter to recover, Valentine's mother takes her on a trek in Thailand. In the mountains north of Chiang Mai, Valentine finds a world she didn't know existed, where houses are on stilts and elephants still roam wild. She learns about the Burmese civil war and the relentless violence against the Karen and Rohingya peoples. Then she meets Lin, a mysterious young elephant keeper tormented by his past, and an orphaned elephant calf.
By: Diane Terrana
-
The Ghost of Us
- By: James L. Sutter
- Narrated by: Bailey Carr
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eighteen-year-old ghost hunter Cara is determined to escape life as a high school outcast by finding proof of the supernatural. Yet when she stumbles upon the spirit of Aiden, a popular upperclassman who died the previous year, she learns that ghosts have goals of their own. In the wake of his death, Aiden’s little sister, Meredith, has become a depressed recluse, and Aiden can’t pass on into the afterlife until he knows she’ll be okay. Believing that nothing pulls someone out of a slump like romance, he makes Cara a deal.
-
-
Definitely a page turner!
- By Anonymous user on 06-30-24
By: James L. Sutter
-
That Night in the Library
- By: Eva Jurczyk
- Narrated by: Hannah Cabell
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the night before graduation, seven students gather in the basement of their university's rare books library. They're not allowed in the library after closing time, but it's the perfect place for the ritual they want to perform—one borrowed from the Greeks, said to free those who take part in it from the fear of death. And what better time to seek the wisdom of ancient gods than in the hours before they'll scatter in different directions to start their real lives? But just a few minutes into their celebration, the lights go out—and one of them drops dead.
By: Eva Jurczyk
-
Stars and Smoke
- By: Marie Lu
- Narrated by: Becca Q. Co
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet Winter Young—rookie backup dancer turned global pop phenomenon. His star power has smashed records, selling out stadiums from LA to London. Now he’s bringing his swoonworthy assets to a whole new arena. Infamous criminal tycoon Eli Morrison has just one weakness—his daughter, Penelope. And Penelope has just one wish for her nineteenth birthday—a private concert with Winter Young. When covert ops organization The Panacea Group approaches Winter with this once-in-a-lifetime chance to infiltrate Morrison’s inner circle, Winter must use his fame, cunning, and charisma to pull it off.
-
-
I enjoyed the easy listening story
- By Joy on 05-30-23
By: Marie Lu
-
Six More Months of June
- By: Daisy Garrison
- Narrated by: Georgia Garrison, Jesse Aaronson
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Golden boy Caplan and bookish Mina have been unlikely soulmates since third grade. Bound by growing up in single-mother households on the same cul-de-sac in Two Docks, Michigan, their friendship exists miraculously outside their high school’s social order. Mina is class valedictorian, expected by her late father’s parents to attend his Ivy alma mater; Caplan is laughing off prom-king predictions and the fear that he’s peaking too soon. When Cap’s skateboard-toting, detention-dodging best friend confesses his feelings for Mina, she is whisked into a social life she never imagined.
-
-
Well written and well read!
- By Ashley on 06-11-24
By: Daisy Garrison
-
Spilled Ink
- By: Nadia Hashimi
- Narrated by: Ariana Delawari
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this insightful and affecting YA novel by well-loved author of books for adults and middle graders Nadia Hashimi, an Afghan American teenager's small town is thrown into controversy and violence when her brother, taking a stand against hatred, plays a prank that some think went too far…
By: Nadia Hashimi
-
Seasick
- By: Kristin Cast, Pintip Dunn
- Narrated by: Catherine Ho, Imani Jade Powers
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ex-best friends Naya Morgan and Yana Bunpraserit have always felt like outsiders in their small Oklahoma town. But this year, everything changes when they’re inducted into an exclusive society of Yatesville High’s top recent graduates. Unimaginable opportunities await them, starting with a celebratory yacht trip to Bermuda. Despite the likely onslaught of microaggressions and backhanded compliments from their peers—in addition to their own rocky past—Yana and Naya are ready for an epic voyage. Then one of their classmates is brutally murdered.
-
-
An amazing YA Thriler
- By Anonymous User on 06-28-24
By: Kristin Cast, and others
-
One of Our Kind
- A novel
- By: Nicola Yoon
- Narrated by: Nicole Lewis
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jasmyn and King Williams move their family to the planned Black utopia of Liberty, California hoping to find a community of like-minded people, a place where their growing family can thrive. King settles in at once, embracing the Liberty ethos, including the luxe wellness center at the top of the hill, which proves to be the heart of the community. But Jasmyn struggles to find her place. She expected to find liberals and social justice activists striving for racial equality, but Liberty residents seem more focused on booking spa treatments and ignoring the world’s troubles.
-
-
Okay book, bad editing
- By Renee A. Kaplowitz on 06-13-24
By: Nicola Yoon
-
The Real Education of TJ Crowley
- Coming of Age on the Redline: An Audio Drama
- By: Grant Overstake, May Wuthrich
- Narrated by: Dani Martineck, Dion Graham, Tavia Gilbert, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Inspired by true events, this adaptation by director/producer May Wuthrich and Grant Overstake, author of the acclaimed novel, recaptures the trials faced by a generation of young teens. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s slaying sparks riots as the bitter divide over civil rights and the Vietnam War wracks the country, and Wichita, Kansas is no exception. There, 13-year-old TJ Crowley, who’s about to face his first year of junior high at a newly integrated school, lives alone with his unstable mother, Kate.
By: Grant Overstake, and others
-
Tehrangeles
- A Novel
- By: Porochista Khakpour
- Narrated by: Mikaela Hoover, Manijeh Khakpour
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Each of the Milanis—even their aloof Persian cat Pari—has something to hide, but the looming scrutiny of fame also threatens to bring the family closer than ever. Dramatic, biting yet full of heart, Tehrangeles is a tragicomic saga about high-functioning family dysfunction and the ever-present struggle to accept one’s true self.
What listeners say about The Color of a Lie
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- K. Cutchlow
- 06-13-24
...nothing short of masterful!
The way Johnson seamlessly weaves together themes of race, identity, and social justice is nothing short of masterful. Her writing is incredibly evocative and emotional, pulling the reader into the heart of Calvin's struggle to navigate his dual identity in a world that wants to force him to choose.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!