What I Saw and How I Lied

Starred review from September 29, 2008
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.

In 1947 postwar New York, when the Dodgers are still in Brooklyn, Evie Spooner appears to have an idyllic life. That all changes when her family takes an extended trip to Palm Beach, where a boating accident ends in a tragic death. Caitlin Greer paces the story perfectly, drawing out each scene, pulling each character into the drama. Each story line is given equal emphasis, so the listener doesn't see how all the pieces fit together until the end. When Evie's mother and stepfather are suspected of murder, Evie takes it upon herself to sort out the conflicting stories and lies to reach her own truth. An interview with the author gives insights into how Blundell came to write this story. E.N. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

April 1, 2010
Gr 9 Up-It's 1947 and Evie's stepfather Joe has returned home to Brooklyn after World War II. Life is slowly returning to normal, until the devastatingly handsome Peter Coleridge appears, looking for his old war buddy. Joe, obviously upset by Peter's appearance, decides to take Evie and her mother on a vacation to West Palm Beach, Florida. Evie's family quickly makes friends with another New York City couple, the Graysons, and Joe and Mr. Grayson begin to make business plans. Then Peter appears and Evie, who is almost 16, begins falling in love with him. She doesn't find it easy to spend time with him because her mother accompanies them everywhere. Tensions mount as Joe's hatred for Peter and her mother's infatuation with the younger man grow and put Evie in the middle of something she does not understand. When tragedy strikes and Peter disappears during a sailing expedition with her parents, Evie must determine who is lying and what is the truth in order to save her family. Judy Blundell's National Book Award winner (Scholastic, 2008) translates well to the audio format, with Caitlin Greer perfectly capturing Evie's voice in this intricate coming-of-age novel that is compelling blend of romance, adventure, mystery, and historical fiction."Janet Hilbun, Texas Women's University, Denton"

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