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The Lie Tree

by Frances Hardinge

Interest age: 13+
Reading age: 13+

Published by Macmillan, 2015

  • Adventure
  • Fantasy
  • Thriller

About this book

Faith is clever, curious and interested in everything around her - but because she is a girl, no-one pays her any attention, so she's learned to exist in the background.

Faith's father is a famed natural scientist, who is forced to flee to a remote island under a cloud of scandal, dragging his family with him. When he dies in mysterious circumstances, Faith links his death to a strange plant in her father's possession, the Lie Tree. This tree, when fed lies, bares fruit that reveal deep secrets to whoever eats them.

This dark, exciting novel delves into the world of religion versus science in the late 1800s. Faith is a fabulous character, undervalued and underestimated because of her sex, but determined to overcome every obstacle society puts into her path.

A sense of isolation and mystery radiates off every page as the gripping tale twists towards its thrilling climax. An exhilarating read.

About the author

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. She recently won the coveted Costa Book of the Year Award for The Lie Tree.

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