Published: Sunday, September 1, 2013 at 1:00 p.m. Last Modified: Friday, August 30, 2013 at 3:39 p.m.

Diane Chamberlain is off to the Topsail area again, to work on her next novel. In the meantime, the Raleigh author's latest novel, "Necessary Lies," is hitting stores.

"I knew I would explode if I didn't write this," Chamberlain said during a phone interview. "This has just been living inside me."

The novel, Chamberlain's first with St. Martin's, is a bit of a departure from her earlier books. It focuses on the history of North Carolina's eugenics program, the state's efforts from 1929 to 1975 to sterilize women labeled "feeble-minded" or "mentally defective."

The story is set in 1960, in fictional "Grace County," in eastern North Carolina.

"It's really Johnston County," Chamberlain admitted.

Her friend, the mystery writer and Johnston County native Margaret Maron ("Bootlegger's Daughter"), gave her a guided tour of the area, which was unfamiliar ground to Chamberlain, a New Jersey native.

The focus of the story is 15-year-old Ivy Hart, who lives on a tenant farm. Her family has problems. Her parents are dead, and Ivy is left to care for an aging grandfather, a mentally ill older sister and a young nephew. In the meantime, she's coping with her own epilepsy.

Jane Forrester, Grace County's newest social worker, takes on Ivy's case and becomes emotionally involved with her family. (Chamberlain herself worked for years as a medical social worker.) As she probes deeper, however, Forrester discovers some of the tenant farm's darker secrets and comes in conflict with her superiors.

Chamberlain didn't approach any survivors of the eugenics program but she interviewed the researcher who reviewed the state Eugenics Board's files, and she read the redacted record online.

Here is the original post:

Bookmarks - Novelist explores eugenics program