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The Book of Lies
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An extraordinary portrait of life under Occupation, with two young characters that the reader will not easily forget. 'This is an unforgettable and brilliant debut. It establishes Mary Horlock as an original, compelling and powerful new voice in British fiction.' Hanif Kureishi

About the Author

Mary Horlock spent her childhood in Guernsey, moving to England at the age of eighteen. She read History and History of Art at Cambridge. Mary lives in London with her partner and their two children.

Reviews

* This is an unforgettable and brilliant debut. It establishes Mary Horlock as an original, compelling and powerful new voice in British fiction. Hanif Kureishi * Irresistibly funny and poignant...confirms Mary Horlock as a rare talent. Marie Darrieussecq * Mary Horlock's authorial debut is impressive. She layers the novel with different voices, deploying Catherine, who, while disclosing her own inner longings and intimate angsts, is the novel's agent of revelation. Scotsman * The misplaced loyalties that often drive the adolescent mind are expertly depicted. -- Hilary Claire O'hagan The National * An assured debut...Horlock's irreverent style marks the arrival of a distinctive new voice. Sunday Business Post * Horlock's use of dual first-person narration lends immediacy and apparent authenticity. -- Sean O'brien Times Literary Supplement * Cathy's teenage voice is a joy - funny, endearing and credible, it bursts with attitude. ... Horlock has created an authentic adolescent voice and, in the process, not only illuminated the history of a small island but also thrown light on the subjectivity of history, truth and memory. -- Leyla Sanai Independent * The joy of this ingenious debut is that, somehow, it manages to link the twin stories convincingly to create an impressive fable about the relativity of truth and the deceits that make living on a small island possible. Highly recommended. -- Adrian Turpin Financial Times * The Book of Lies is an assured debut, and Horlock's irreverent style marks the arrival of a distinctive new voice. Sunday Business Post * [a] seething, startling work. -- Catherine Taylor Guardian

Horlock's strange and inviting debut revolves around Catherine Rozier, a plump teenager with few friends growing up in the 1980s on Guernsey island, and her proclamation that she killed her fair-weather best friend. The Nazi occupation of Guernsey left an indelible mark on the psyche of the island's inhabitants that, 40 years later, plays nearly as important a role in the novel as the antic and two-faced characters making up Horlock's ensemble. Catherine, whose father recently died, becomes close friends with the popular Nicolette, but after Catherine tells lies about an affair with a teacher and crashes a party, their friendship sours, leading to Nicolette falling to her death from a cliff and Catherine's musings about her role in the death. Catherine's narrative is embroidered by writings from her uncle, Charlie, who was held prisoner in a German concentration camp and died young. Charles's writings reveal he had a similar love-hate relationship with a friend and suffered from guilt after a family tragedy. The key question becomes, are Catherine and her uncle as guilty as they lead themselves to think? Catherine is at the same time sympathetic and off-putting, and her razor-sharp humor gives the book a pleasing, offbeat charm. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

It's not often that one meets an accidental teen murderess who offhandedly describes the scene of the crime as "like Friday the 13th (Part 1 or 2)" and sums up the moment her former best friend fell off a cliff with "How cool was that?" So begins Horlock's remarkable first novel, which will forever erase for readers the treacly taste of Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows's The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Catherine Rozier, an overweight loner at an all-girls school on the Channel Island of Guernsey, circa 1985, makes her first friend, newcomer Nicolette Prevost. Nic is a manipulative mean girl, and Cat soon learns that friendships come at a price. Cat's unapologetic, unreliable retelling of the events that led to Nic's untimely end is interspersed with chapters about Cat's Uncle Charlie, who struggled during the Nazi occupation of the island. Cat is not as quick or deliberately vengeful as Winona Ryder's character in the film Heathers, but she is unique and captivating. VERDICT A great read for book club members who will appreciate the 1980s pop culture references mixed with World War II history lessons.-Christine Perkins, Bellingham P.L., WA (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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