The Lies We Tell: a novel

The Lies We Tell is a coming-of-age novel set in 1974, after the Watergate scandal has left the country grappling with an unnerving sense of deceit. Although she doesn’t fully understand, thirteen-year-old Martie Wheeler, whose father has suddenly dropped dead of a heart attack, is consumed by nagging questions: How could the president lie? How does a healthy heart just stop one day? Could hers do the same? To add to her anxiety, two girls her age have disappeared from the local mall. Could she be the next victim?

When her mother announces her plans to move the family to Milwaukee, Martie, always the good girl, suffers silently, leaving the theatrics to her angry sixteen-year-old sister, Blaire.

On the shores of Lake Michigan, Blaire befriends “the witch,” a strange woman whose yard is littered with bizarre sculptures made of sticks and stones. The locals claim that she killed her family, which further fuels Martie’s anxiety. The bigger threat, though, is a dark secret that, if true, will mean that her family has been lying to her. Can Martie cope?