Publisher Description

Winner of the Costa Book of the Year 2015.The Lie Tree is a wonderfully evocative and atmospheric novel by Frances Hardinge, award-winning author of Cuckoo Song and Fly By Night.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 . . .

Notes

Winner of the Costa Book of the Year 2015. An evocative and atmospheric novel. The lie tree only grows healthy and bears fruit if you whisper a lie to it and the fruit of the tree, when eaten, will deliver a hidden truth to the person who consumes it. As Faith attempts to discover what happened to her father she soon realises that where lies seduce, truth shatters...

Back Cover

The Lie Tree The leaves were cold and slightly clammy. There was no mistaking them. She had seen their likeness painstakingly sketched in her father's journal. This was his greatest secret, his treasure and his undoing. The Tree of Lies. Now it was hers, and the journey he had never finished stretched out before her. When Faith's father is found dead under mysterious circumstances, she is determined to untangle the truth from the lies. Searching through his belongings for clues she discovers a strange tree. A tree that feeds off whispered lies and bears fruit that reveals hidden secrets. The bigger the lie, and the more people who believe it, the bigger the truth that is uncovered. But as Faith's untruths spread like wildfire across her small island community, she discovers that sometimes a single lie is more potent than any truth. A beguiling tale of mystery and intrigue from the award-winning author of Fly By Night and Cuckoo Song

Flap

The Lie Tree The leaves were cold and slightly clammy. There was no mistaking them. She had seen their likeness painstakingly sketched in her father's journal. This was his greatest secret, his treasure and his undoing. The Tree of Lies. Now it was hers, and the journey he had never finished stretched out before her. When Faith's father is found dead under mysterious circumstances, she is determined to untangle the truth from the lies. Searching through his belongings for clues she discovers a strange tree. A tree that feeds off whispered lies and bears fruit that reveals hidden secrets. The bigger the lie, and the more people who believe it, the bigger the truth that is uncovered. But as Faith's untruths spread like wildfire across her small island community, she discovers that sometimes a single lie is more potent than any truth. A beguiling tale of mystery and intrigue from the award-winning author of Fly By Night and Cuckoo Song

Author Biography

Frances Hardinge spent a large part of her childhood in a huge old house that inspired her to write strange stories from an early age. She read English at Oxford University, then got a job at a software company. However, a few years later a persistent friend finally managed to bully Frances into sending a few chapters of Fly by Night, her first children's novel, to a publisher. Macmillan made her an immediate offer. The book went on to publish to huge critical acclaim and win the Branford Boase First Novel Award. She has been nominated for, and won several other awards, being shortlisted for the prestigious Carnegie Medal for Cuckoo Song and winning the coveted Costa Book of the Year Award for The Lie Tree.

Review

The Lie Tree is brilliant: dark, thrilling, utterly original. Everyone should read Frances Hardinge. Everyone. Right now. -- Patrick Ness, author of A Monster Calls
The Lie Tree is a wonder. I can't think of anyone who would not love this story. -- Matt Haig
I loved this book so much. -- Lucy Mangan
Complex and intelligent: a lustrous, delicious romp. -- Philip Womack * The Telegraph *
The overall winner of the 2015 Costa Book of the Year Award, t h i s s u p e r b Victorian melodrama traces teenage Faith's rebellion against the hypocrisy and female repression of the era * The Daily Mail - In a Feature titled Go wild for these children's books! From Winnie The Pooh to The Gruffalo, there's a story to keep even the pickiest child entertained during the lockdown *

Promotional

A deliciously creepy novel from Frances Hardinge, the award-winning author of Cuckoo Song and Fly By Night.

Prizes

Winner of Costa Book of the Year Award 2016 (UK)
Winner of Costa Children's Book Award 2016 (UK)
Winner of UKLA 12-16+ Category 2016 (UK)
Short-listed for British Book Awards: Children's Book of the Year 2016 (UK)
Short-listed for The CILIP Carnegie Medal 2016 (UK)
Short-listed for YA Book Prize 2016 (UK)

Review Quote

The Lie Tree is brilliant: dark, thrilling, utterly original. Everyone should read Frances Hardinge. Everyone. Right now.

Promotional "Headline"

A deliciously creepy novel from Frances Hardinge, the award-winning author of Cuckoo Song and Fly By Night.

Details