I was told my mother had abandoned me. It was obviously lies.

[sunsunmoon]

BBC - Nottinghamshire mother and son reunited after 60 years
Danny's father walked out on Olive, taking his son with him. Danny said: "I was told my mother had abandoned me. It was obviously lies."

Is lies correct? Is "a lie" wrong?

 

[5jj]

The singular is correct. The plural is sometimes used informally. I would recommend that learners use only the singular when one lie is involved.

 

[Raymott]

BBC - Nottinghamshire mother and son reunited after 60 years
Danny's father walked out on Olive, taking his son with him. Danny said: "I was told my mother had abandoned me. It was obviously lies."

Is lies correct? Is "a lie" wrong?

He's referring to the system of lies that his father told him to keep up the pretence. It's very unlikely that only one lie was told in those 60 years about this:

Danny: What happened to my mother?
Father: She abandoned you.
Danny: Oh, OK.

Generally the collocation goes, "It was all lies."

 

[5jj]

Generally the collocation goes, "It was all lies."

Or: It was a pack of lies.

 

[Raymott]

Or: It was a tissue of lies; It was a fabric of lies. (for the more literary-minded)

 

[sunsunmoon]

a bundle of lies
a parcel of lies
a bunch of lies
a web of lies

Are these all good?

 

[Raymott]

a bundle of lies
a parcel of lies
a bunch of lies
a web of lies

Are these all good?

More or less. 'Parcel' wouldn't be common.

 

[Coolfootluke]

'Parcel' wouldn't be common.

I am not a teacher.

That is true, but an American might jokingly use "passel", a frontier corruption of "parcel": a passel of lies.