Lies We Tell Ourselves - Softcover

Talley, Robin

4.06

13,892 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0373212046 ISBN 13: 9780373212040

Publisher: Harlequin Books Teen, 2016

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In 1959 Virginia, the lives of two girls on opposite sides of the battle for civil rights will be changed forever

Sarah Dunbar is one of the first black students to attend the previously all-white Jefferson High School. An honors student at her old school, she is put into remedial classes, spit on and tormented daily.

Linda Hairston is the daughter of one of the town's most vocal opponents of school integration. She has been taught all her life that the races should be kept "separate but equal."

Forced to work together on a school project, Sarah and Linda must confront harsh truths about race, power and the fact that they may be falling for one another.

Boldly realistic and emotionally compelling, Lies We Tell Ourselves is a brave and stunning novel about finding truth amid the lies, and finding your voice even when others are determined to silence it.

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Review:

"[A] well-paced, engrossing story.... [A] beautifully written and compelling read." -School Library Journal

"A well-handled debut." -Booklist

"A piercing look at the courage it takes to endure...forms of extreme hatred, violence, racism and sexism." -Kirkus Reviews

"The big issues of school desegregation in the 1950s, interracial dating, and same-sex couples have the potential to be too much for one novel, but the author handles all with aplomb. What makes it even better is that both Linda's and Sarah's points of view are revealed as the novel unfolds, giving meaning to their indoctrinated views.... This is a meaningful tale about integration." -VOYA

"I found myself at turns grateful and horrified as I read Talley's fictionalized account of integration.... Lies We Tell Ourselves might be fiction, but the story is true-and it's one we should never forget." -NPR

"A stirring portrayal of the fight for integration in the late 1950s.... Both [integration and gay rights] are touchy subjects, yet Ms. Talley navigates them with grace. She concentrates on her characters, developing their personalities, their conflicting interests, and showing how their experiences affect them.... This is not an easy book to read, but there's a lot of hope at the core of the story.... Definitely a must-read book... I'm sure this book will go down in the young adult canon as a classic." -Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

About the Author:

Robin Talley studied literature and communications at American University. She lives in Washington, DC, with her wife, but visits both Boston and New York regularly despite her moral opposition to Massachusetts winters and Times Square. Her first book was 2014's Lies We Tell Ourselves. Visit her online at robintalley.com or on Twitter at @robin_talley.

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