The growth of interest in immigrant women's narratives has triggered off discussions about the choice of terms and categories that are most appropriate for critical appraisals of this novel form, which has only a passing resemblance to the traditional, highly intellectual model of the story of an exile. The choice of 'Necessary Lies' by Ewa Stachniak, an acclaimed debut novel from the field of Polish-Canadian literature, enables the authoress of this article to address a whole range of issues - women's narration and criticism, new techniques of creating and legitimizing one's stories, of simulating the effect of reality, and, last not least, ways of blurring the distinction between reality and fiction which are peculiar to a migrant's tale.