A Version of the Truth — Jennifer Kaufman; Karen Mack

Cassie Shaw, an irrepressible young woman who reinvents herself--with unexpected consequences--in a funny, wise, and utterly original novel about friendship, love, wildlife, and other forces of nature.

In the wilds of Topanga Canyon, Cassie is right at home--with the call of birds, the sound of wind in the trees, the harmony of a world without people. But everywhere else, life is a little harder for Cassie. Her mother believes in Big Foot. Her wisecracking pet parrot is a drama queen. And at the age of thirty, newly single and without a college degree, Cassie desperately needs a decent paycheck. Which is why, against all her principles, she lies on her resume for an office job at an elite university--and then finds herself employed in academia by two professors who are as rare as the birds she covets.

One of her new bosses is Professor William Conner, a sexy, handsome, cheerfully aristocratic expert in animal behavior. Soon, under Conner's charismatic tutelage, Cassie carefully begins her personal transformation while meeting the kind of people who don't flock to wildlife preserves--from impossibly brilliant academics to adorably spoiled college boys. But her future--and unlikely new career--is teetering on one unbearable untruth. And Cassie's masquerade is about to come undone...in a chain of events that will transform her life--and the lives of those around her--forever.