When Evies father returned home from World War II, the family fell back into its normal life pretty quickly. But Joe Spooner brought more back with him than just good war stories. When movie-star handsome Peter Coleridge, a young ex-GI who served in Joes company in postwar Austria, shows up, Evie is suddenly caught in a complicated web of lies that she only slowly recognizes. She finds herself falling for Peter, ignoring the family secrets that surround him
until he mysteriously drowns. Now Evie must find out what happened
and how far shell go to protect her family. With What I Saw and How I Lied, Judy Blundell gives us a girls-eye view of a twisted family history, sure to be enjoyed by fans of Jennifer Donnellys A Northern Light.
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Blundell, author of Star Wars novelizations, turns out a taut, noirish mystery/coming-of-age story set in 1947; it's easy to picture it as a film starring Lana Turner, who is mentioned in these pages. When first met, 15-year-old Evie and her best friend are buying chocolate cigarettes to practice smoking. Evie sheds that innocence on a trip to Florida, where her stepfather, Joe, back from the war in Europe, abruptly takes her and her beautiful mother, Beverly, and where Evie falls in love with glamorous Peter, an army buddy whom Joe is none too happy to see. But after a boating accident results in a suspicious death and an inquest, Evie is forced to revisit her romance with Peter and her relationships with Joe and her mother, and to consider that her assumptions about all three may have been wrong from the beginning. Blundell throws Evie's inexperience into high relief with slangy, retro dialogue: Peter calls Evie "pussycat"; Beverly says her first husband "kicked through love like it was dust and he kept on walking." Readers can taste Evie's alienation and her yearning; it's a stylish, addictive brew. Ages 12-up. (Nov.) Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.
From: Reed Elsevier Inc.
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Blundell, the pseudonymous author of a number of "Star Wars" series books for children, completely surprised me with this story of a girl's loss of innocence. Evie's stepdad is home from World War II and eager to be back with her movie star-gorgeous mother. The family travels to Palm Beach, FL, ostensibly for a little vacation, but Joe's past follows in the form of Peter Coleridge, a handsome young charmer who served with him. Then Peter turns up dead, and Evie's parents are the prime suspects. Now Evie must find her own path between the truth and the lies she learns everyone has been telling. Why It Is a Best: Straightforward language belies the masterly storytelling in this 2008 National Book Award winner for Young People's Literature. Here, our narrator is both unreliable and unflappable. Evie starts out more than a little naOve, and her maturity comes with hard-won experience. Why It Is for Us: At its core, this is a mother-daughter book in which the daughter learns how to make her way in a world where she can no longer trust in the adults around her. Blundell does not shy away from the uglier aspects of the time-anti-Semitism and the tension between men returning home and the women who held down the fort while they were gone.-Angelina Benedetti, King Cty. Lib. Syst., WA Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.
From: Reed Elsevier Inc.
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Gr 9 Up-In 1947, 15-year-old Evie, her mother, Bev, and her stepfather, Joe, leave Brooklyn for a vacation in Palm Beach, FL, during the off season. There they meet Arlene and Tom Grayson, who lavish attention on the family and convince Joe to go into the hotel business with them. When Peter, an army acquaintance of Joe's, appears, Evie is smitten by his charm and attention. Her budding interest in romance, while protectively discouraged by her parents, is actually encouraged by Arlene, who helps Evie develop a sense of style. Evie enjoys her outings with Peter and interprets her mother's insinuating presence as protective, when in reality Bev is having an affair with the younger man. Joe's jealous distrust of his wife, established while he was at war in Europe, does not obviate the intimacy between Bev and Peter. Evie's closeness to her mother will not permit her to acknowledge the affair even when it becomes impossible to deny. Meanwhile pervading anti-Semitism sours the hotel deal, and the Graysons are forced out of Palm Beach. When Joe insists on one last boat trip, Peter dies during a storm and Joe is accused of murder. It is during the ensuing hearing that Evie learns that adults, even those closest to her, are not always what they seem. Blundell navigates this multidimensional plotline with unique, well-developed characters and insightful dialogue. Yet it is Evie and her rapidly maturing perception of herself and those around her that carry the story. In many ways she becomes the adult in the group, motivated by truth and justice rather than greed or superficial appearances.-Sue Lloyd, Franklin High School Library, Livonia, MI Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.
From: Reed Elsevier Inc.
Copyright Reed Business Information
