Frances Hardinge is the author of many acclaimed novels, including Cuckoo Song, which earned five starred reviews. The tree might hold the key to her father’s murder-or it may lure the murderer directly to Faith herself. Faith and her family move to an unnamed island under the shadow of a scandal that accompanies her father’s anthropological findings. The fruit of the tree, when eaten, delivers a hidden truth. The Lie Tree is the third title I have read by British author Frances Hardinge and I am as struck with it as I was by the other two. The tree bears fruit only when she whispers a lie to it. In pursuit of justice and revenge, Faith hunts through her father’s possessions and discovers a strange tree. And she knows, when her father is discovered dead shortly thereafter, that he was murdered. She knows that her family moved to the close-knit island of Vane because her famous scientist father was fleeing a reputation-destroying scandal. She knows secrets no one suspects her of knowing. But inside, Faith is full of questions and curiosity, and she cannot resist mysteries: an unattended envelope, an unlocked door. Known for her beautiful use of language, Hardinge has written many critically acclaimed novels, including Cuckoo Song, Gullstruck Island, Fly by Night, Verdigris Deep, and Fly Trap. To most people, she is reliable, dull, trustworthy-a proper young lady who knows her place as inferior to men. Frances Hardinge is the winner of the Costa Book of the Year for The Lie Tree, one of just two young adult novels to win the major UK literary prize. Read this thought-provoking, critically acclaimed novel (6 starred reviews!!!) from Frances Hardinge, winner of the Costa Book of the Year, Costa Children’s Book Award, and Horn Book-Boston Globe Award.įaith Sunderly leads a double life.

By Frances Hardinge (Published by Macmillan UK)Īndre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction in 2016

The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge