Fans of Harriet Tyce’s debut thriller Blood Orange have been eagerly anticipating her follow-up, and they will certainly not be disappointed with The Lies You Told. Tyce continues to demonstrate her gift for writing twists that fit organically into her stories, but still shock and excite the reader.
In The Lies You Told, we meet Sadie Roper who has been living in America with her husband, Andrew, and her ten year old daughter, Robin, for the past decade. Something has just occurred that has destroyed the life they had and now Sadie and Robin have suddenly had to move back to London, to Sadie’s childhood home. Tyce sprinkles information about what caused this move, why it was so traumatic, and what the issues are with Sadie living in her old home again throughout the book. Because we only get tiny pieces at a time, we at times feel just as off balance as Sadie often describes. Their lives have changed so fast that it hardly seems like she can catch her breath.
Robin of course has the typical issues of joining a new school mid-year, but these issues are amplified because she is having to adjust to how different the schools and school systems are between America and the UK, as well as the fact that she is now attending an elite, private, all-girls school. The same school, in fact, that Sadie attended, but does not have fond memories of. Tyce lets the reader worry and wonder about the reasons behind Sadie moving to a house she hates and putting her daughter in a school she doesn’t want her to be in, and just why she is trapped in this arrangement.
Sadie also has trouble adjusting to the fierce competition between the parents of the children at Robin’s school. Sadie spends time being shunned and ridiculed for her decision not to join in with the attitudes and behaviours of the other mothers. Things start to change for Sadie (and for Robin) as Sadie goes back to work in the court system and gets involved in a high-profile case. The scandalous nature of the case, caring for her daughter on her own, and balancing all of her responsibilities while carving out this new life for herself and her daughter all create an incredibly stressful situation that Tyce masterfully conveys. So masterfully, in fact, that there were times that I had to set the book down for a few minutes because it was making me, personally, feel too stressed.
Though Sadie’s eventual acceptance into the parent group opens up both she and Robin’s social lives, it also opens them up to previously unseen dangers. As a single mother, and a criminal justice professional myself, Tyce’s magnificent storytelling caused me to identify far too closely with Sadie. This book pushed absolutely all of my personal “biggest worry” buttons!
There are passages that are not for the faint of heart, but this complex tale has been woven together with expert hands. She writes characters we can love, and she is especially adept with characters we can love to hate. Her ability to craft a story is incredible. Harriet Tyce will have you addicted to her writing in no time.
The Lies You Told is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
In the playground it’s the law of the jungle But at the school gate, there are no rules at all… When Sadie Roper moves back to London, she’s determined to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. First, she needs to get her daughter settled into a new school-one of the most exclusive in the city. Next, she’s going to get back the high-flying criminal barrister career she sacrificed for marriage ten years earlier. But nothing goes quite as planned.
The school is not very welcoming newcomers, her daughter hasn’t made any friends yet and the other mothers are as fiercely competitive as their children. Sadie immediately finds herself on the outside as she navigates the fraught politics of the school gate. But the tide starts to turn as Sadie begins to work on a scandalous, high-profile case that’s the perfect opportunity to prove herself again, even though a dangerous flirtation threatens to cloud her professional judgment. And when Liza, queen of the school moms, befriends Sadie, she draws her into the heart of the world from which she was previously excluded.
Soon Sadie and her family start to thrive, but does this close new friendship prevent her from seeing the truth? Sadie may be keeping her friends close, but what she doesn’t know is that her enemies are closer still…
Dark, addictive and compelling, The Lies You Told is a compulsive psychological thriller from a master storyteller.
