Salem Massachusetts, 1692: Tituba curses two young girls, but Ann Putnam Jr. isn’t one of them. In order to help save her friends, Ann develops a plan to accuse the remaining supposed witches of Salem. As the death count rises, each lie buries her deeper and deeper under a curse of her own doing. This tragic experience of guilt, abuse, power, and love gives a first-person view into the spine-chilling months where neighbor turned on neighbor at the word of a little girl.
As someone who used to be (alright, still is) obsessed with anything related to the Salem Witch Trials (history, literature, plays, etc) I jumped at the chance to review Lies. After providing feedback to Oliver on cover ideas in the Go Teen Writers group, I was so excited to read this story.
Now onto my review:
I adored this book. Oliver Dahl accomplishes a great feat in adding possible motive to a person who has been renounced as a person for lying and causing so many deaths. In addition, the author very accurately captures the voice of a teenage girl in this book, which I think is a laudable accomplishment on its own. The reader gets to see Ann’s initial innocence and a misguided sense justice that transformed her into the infamous accusor we study in history class. Her inner conflict over her questionable actions elicits both pity and revulsion, making her an even more interesting character. While short, Lies is a poignant and chilling story that I think everyone should read!