Meg Waite Clayton

Author of the international bestsellers The Postmistress of Paris, The Last Train to London, and 6 other novels

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The Story Was Completely Untrue

“The story was completely untrue, but the untruth of untrue stories could sometimes be of service in the real world.” – Salman Rushdie, from The Enchantress of Florence

I came across this quote on Fiction Writers Review (which if you don’t know it, is a wonderful resource on the craft of writing). It reminded me of the Truman Capote quote (sometimes attributed to Stephen King, but The New Yorker, anyway, says it’s Capote):
“Fiction is the truth inside the lie.”

I’d not yet seen the Rushdie quote – sadly, my copy of Enchantress remains on my TBR shelf – but I love it because it is says so well why fiction matters, and why we should keep trying our best to deliver believable lies.
It also reminded me of an Authors@Google presentation by Rushdie that I’d watched when trying to sort out what I would say for my own Authors@Google gig. Needless to say, it was very intimidating! And I learned a lot from it, so am sharing it here. – Meg

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Meg Waite Clayton


Meg Waite Clayton is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of nine novels, including the forthcoming TYPEWRITER BEACH (Harper, July 1, 2025), the Good Morning America Buzz pick and New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice THE POSTMISTRESS OF PARIS, the National Jewish Book Award finalist THE LAST TRAIN TO LONDON, the Langum-Prize honored THE RACE FOR PARIS, and THE WEDNESDAY SISTERS, one of Entertainment Weekly’s 25 Essential Best Friend Novels of all time. Her novels have been published in 23 languages. She has also written more than 100 pieces for major newspapers, magazines, and public radio, mentors in the OpEd Project, and is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and the California bar. megwaiteclayton.com