Two Sides of a Lie

This story is inspired by real events. It was a chilly September evening when the body of a young pro-democracy protester surfaced in Hong Kong’s eastern Yau Tong Bay. The local police quickly concluded his death as accidental drowning but fellow protesters believe it was part of a dark ploy by the authorities to quash the political movement. James Lai, the Han Herald’s senior reporter, is assigned to investigate the mysterious death. Unbeknownst to him, the assignment is a front created by his editors to shift the narrative against leaders in Beijing, unnerved by the intensified public opinion. As he digs deeper, he finds himself coming to close brush with the forces of a power struggle among the Party’s top brass. His pursuit of the truth challenges his personal and professional integrity at every step of the way. Faced with a politically-pressured media environment in Hong Kong and the Herald newsroom that has declined from a once globally respected publication to a propaganda mouthpiece, James can only trust his own journalistic beliefs and dogged reporting to piece together the mystery and bring the story to life. Nonetheless, the answers he uncovers of the conspiracy are more sinister than he could have imagined.

Elaine Chan is a journalist and writer covering Asia and Greater China. She was the Shanghai bureau chief of Bloomberg News and had written and edited for the likes of the South China Morning Post and the Associated Press. While growing up in her native Singapore, she also trained in Western art and painting. But realising she’d never be a Van Gogh, she decided to pursue journalism which she believes is the society’s conscience. Two Sides Of A Lie is her first novel. Lee Jeong-ho is a journalist and writer covering East Asia and the Korean peninsula. He has written for Bloomberg News, the South China Morning Post and News1 Korea. He believes that media exists for the progression of democracy, to empower individual citizens of democratic ideals through the dissemination of information. Jeong-ho grew up in South Korea and Australia. He had also worked as an officer in the South Korean Air Force, before becoming a journalist. Two Sides Of A Lie is his first novel.