The Big Lie

By Author / Illustrator

Julie Mayhew

Genre

Adventure

Age range(s)

11+

Publisher

Hot Key Books

ISBN

9781471404702

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

27-08-2015

Synopsis

Shortlisted for the Peters Book of the Year.A shocking story of rebellion and revelation set in a contemporary Nazi England.Jessika Keller is a good girl: she obeys her father, does her best to impress Herr Fisher at the Bund Deutscher Madel meetings and is set to be a world champion ice skater. Her neighbour Clementine is not so submissive. Outspoken and radical, Clem is delectably dangerous and rebellious. And the regime has noticed. Jess cannot keep both her perfect life and her dearest friend. But which can she live without?THE BIG LIE is a thought-provoking and beautifully told story that explores ideas of loyalty, sexuality and protest.

Reviews

'The Big Lie' is an original idea about life in England if Hitler had won the war. Told to us by 'Jessika', the daughter of one of societies higher members and a 'good girl', it is drip fed to us piece by piece - almost in the same way Jessika comes to realise the type of life she is really living. The book is written in such a way that at first I found it slightly confusing but events soon become clearer and on finishing I wanted to read the book all over again. The author's comments at the end also add to the book and have you questioning life in our society and that of other countries. The story is very clever, especially the way information is revealed and how Jessika realises quite how dangerous and perilous life under the regime really is. By the end of the book it is like her eyes have been opened, mainly in part by her own parents and their treatment of her percieved 'condition', This is a must read for teenagers but I think it will also appeal to adults. 368 pages / Ages 14+ / Reviewed by Lorraine Ansell, school librarian.