Rich, imaginative, satisfying, this is for readers who want something a bit more than surface polish. Hardinge is a consummate storyteller for whom words are the jewels she uses to embellish her work. These currents flow subtly and smoothly though an engrossing and exciting story. The Lie Tree shares many of the same roots-but grows them in a very different way, emerging a prickling specimen, all nettle leaves and nothing I want to bring home.

I loved Fly by Night, sought out the hardcover and added it to my library. However, this is no philosophical treatise. The Lie Tree is a perfect example of why I stopped auto-buying authors. So the Lie Tree acts as a metaphor for society and the way it works. To survive they must be untrue to themselves. In this world girls like Faith, curious, intelligent and ambitious, have no place. In such a world, the existence of the Lie Tree is not just plausible, it is real. Here, we find ourselves in a Darwinian Victorian world a world where new ideas and strange theories are being promoted, where old certainties are being challenged as new discoveries are being uncovered (literally), and fame comes in the shape of a fossil. She is particularly skilful at creating worlds that are rooted in reality, but adding a twist of fantasy that is completely believable and coherent. But lies are slippery by their very nature, and revenge may not be as simple or as pleasant as you imagine.įrances Hardinge is one of the most imaginative of authors. She will also use the lies to uncover the truth. The Lie Tree is a wonderfully evocative and atmospheric story by Frances Hardinge, award-winning author. When she discovers of one of his secrets – a tree that fboth feeds off lies and spreads them with its fruits – Faith finds she has a weapon through which she can be revenged on all those who have humiliated and scorned her and her family. Suicide? Faith is convinced that he has been murdered – and lies begin to mount. But what can it be? Faith longs to know the truth but not yet quite grown-up, and a girl besides, she is excluded.

But whether true or not the Sunderly family must leave their comfortable home for a remote and unfriendly island community to escape scandal.

The lie tree series in order