The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge

Pages: 377

Intended Audience: Teens

Genre: Historical / Supernatural / Mystery

Notes for Parents: Includes some mature content.

The Back Cover

Faith Sunderly leads a double life. To most people, she is reliable, dull, trustworthy - a proper young lady who knows her place as inferior to men. But inside, Faith is full of questions and curiosity, and she cannot resist mysteries: an unattended envelope, an unlocked door. She knows secrets no one suspects her of knowing. She knows that her family moved to the close-knit island of Vane because her famous scientist father was fleeing a reputation-destroying scandal. And she knows, when her father is discovered dead shortly thereafter, that he was murdered.
In pursuit of justice and revenge, Faith hunts through her father's possessions and discovers a strange tree. The tree bears fruit only when she whispers a lie to it. The fruit of the tree, when eaten, delivers a hidden truth. The tree might hold the key to her father's murder - or it may lure the murderer directly to Faith herself.

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

A few of the awards this book has won include: Costa Book of the Year (2015); LA Times Book Prize for YA Literature (2016); a Carnegie Medal Nominee (2016); YA Book Prize Nominee (2016); and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction (2016).

What’s good?

It’s a gothic mystery set on a bleak island off the coast of England. The main character, Faith, is a passionate, spirited, and curious teen who dreams of being a naturalist like her father. After her father dies and she learns about a mysterious tree he’s been hiding, the adventure begins. The characters are strong, the mystery is dark, and the plot is winding, but easy to understand. The writing is sophisticated with beautiful imagery and period vocabulary. The tension thickens with danger and deceit as Faith closes in on the truth. The ending is full of questions, but still satisfying.

Best Part: “His words were lifeless pebbles on an endless beach.”  (pg. 141)

What isn’t good?

It was slow, especially the first third of the book. We know from the back cover description that Faith’s father dies and she discovers the lie tree. Her father doesn’t die until more than 100 pages in, and she doesn’t discover the tree for another 50 pages after that. Only then does the pace pick up as Faith uses the powers of the tree to solves the mystery of her father’s death.

Worst part: the pace

Recommendation ☺☺☺☻☻ (3/5)

I almost gave up around page 80 because it felt like the story was taking forever to get going, but I toughed it out long enough to get to the good stuff. Once Faith found the tree and was convinced her father was murdered, the story got much more interesting. By the end, I was glad that I’d continued. 

Hardinge, Frances. The Lie Tree. New York: Scholastic, 2016.