The Lie

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The psychological manipulation coupled with physical torture masked as "detoxification" that went on in the retreat is really scary, the way the people's behavior is slowly changing unwillingly until they get trapped in the mountains with no way to escape. We have a bunch of friends who go travelling, it was meant to be three destinations, but they only got to two. I read this in just over 24 hours I really couldn't put it down, its fast paced with lots of unexpected twists. Highly recommend it to anyone that likes thrillers, you really wont be disappointed reading this one. It seems it’s not possible to read The Lie without comparing it to Pat Barker’s Regeneration Trilogy, which I think is one of the finest attempts to render the horror of World War I in fiction. Malcolm Forbes, who reviewed it for The Australian, thought that: Five years ago, Jane was Emma. Emma and her group of girl friends take an extended vacation to a retreat in Nepal. Emma's group of friends were the kind of girls that I love to hate with the exception of Al. Trying to figure out what was really going on at this retreat was really what grabbed me about the book. I have to admit that I just couldn't figure out where the story was going.

Another find in the local library. I have been meaning to read more Dunmore for a while - my only previous one was her Women's Prize winner A Spell of Winter. If you set a story in Cornwall, if you change the names of places, you really shouldn’t use real place names for your characters. If you set out to write a novel set in the aftermath of the Great War, elements often found in gothic novels will seem out of place. Such small things, but they took me away from the heart of the story. For me, this is a near perfect novel in style, structure, pace and meaning. My only slight reservation is that I think Dunmore goes on a bit about the central heating system - I suppose meant to be analogous to underground military tunnels. Five years ago, Jane Hughes was called Emma Woolfe and she and three friends set out for the holiday of a lifetime to Nepal. The fun that they were expecting however soon turned into a nightmare. The Lie is absolutely brilliant – The Beach, only darker, more thrilling and more tense. It’s the story of a twisted, distorted friendship. It’s a compelling, addictive and wonderfully written tale. Can’t recommend it enough.”– Louise Douglas (author of ‘The Secrets Between Us’)

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I have purposely waited until now to get my reading matter done on this new book from this author as I know many would grab and start reading it right away. I wanted to wait. I wanted to wait for the hype to simmer down so that I could chill out......they hype this book up again where it deserves to be. The sudden wrench that enlistment brought for volunteers and conscripts is vividly recreated - civilian lives disrupted, careers fractured, families dislocated, and friendships torn apart as loved ones went to war. Then the deluge and the further wrench, and agonising pain, of irretrievable loss and unrelieved grieving that must be endured by families confronting death and disfigurement.

I have long been an admirer of Helen Dunmore and am pleased to say that I greatly enjoyed her latest work. Obviously it is the Centenary of the First World War and so there are bound to be many books about such a cataclysmic historical event which changed Europe, and the people involved, forever. This is a moving read, but events and memories are unravelled slowly – almost poetically – and it is not a book to rush, but to savour and think about. Timeline switching happens all through the book, from Jane and her friends years ago, before and during their holiday and to the present day, with Jane and her secrets and her new and hidden life. It's pretty easy to follow, not confusing like some timeline switching can be. The title of this book can be interpreted in many ways, as revealed by the poignant quotation at the beginning;I will give a nod to Daisy. Daisy was a character who I wanted to punch in the mouth and I am not a violent person. Still, she was absolutely captivating, truly memorable, fascinating and provocative, I’d like to bet that like me, she will be one who will stay with you for the longest after the story is done. The Siege is the only one of Dunmore’s novels which I have really enjoyed, despite reading an awful lot of her tales. Her prose style and storylines seem rather inconsistent from one book to the next, and that is certainly true when one reads The Lie.