Author(s): Frances Hardinge

Teen Fiction

The Lie Tree is a wonderfully evocative and atmospheric novel by award-winning author Frances Hardinge.

Faith's father has been found dead under mysterious circumstances, and as she is searching through his belongings for clues she discovers a strange tree.

The tree only grows healthy and bears fruit if you whisper a lie to it. The fruit of the tree, when eaten, will deliver a hidden truth to the person who consumes it. The bigger the lie, the more people who believe it, the bigger the truth that is uncovered.

The girl realizes that she is good at lying and that the tree might hold the key to her father's murder, so she begins to spread untruths far and wide across her small island community.

But as her tales spiral out of control, she discovers that where lies seduce, truths shatter...

Kathleen's review - What a great premise! This book is set shortly after the time of The_Great_Exhibition in Hyde Park, Londonn (1851), when fossil hunting was all the rage, and when there was enormous debate between Christianity and Darwinism. Faith is 15, the daughter of the Reverend Erasmus Sunderly and his wife Myrtle. Faith also has a much younger brother, Howard - several other brothers have died in infancy. The family is moving for Sunderly to take up a position at the Vane Island excavation. But in the very first chapter, Faith overhears her father and uncle talking, and she discovers the family is fleeing from accusations of fraud.

So, there is this great 'scientific and theological debate' setting, there's the place of women (and the terrible frustration for those who would love to study but are not given the opportunity), and then there's murder and intrigue and a touch of the supernatural. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!