Tell Me Lies

by PATRICK COOPER

Overview

It is 1969, and Stephen meets up with old friend Astrid and her lover Spencer, and stays with them in the hippy household “The Hollies.” Peace and love are tangible: until his passionate attraction for another girl in the household goes sour. He drifts into the radical arts scene and far-left politics, and finally into a squalid squat in London. A return to the idyllic “The Hollies” seems a good idea, but now the house has become a commune, and Spencer is the guru. When this too, inevitably, goes sour, Stephen has to try to understand what was real and what was just a dream?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780307491725
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	02/19/2009
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	14 Years

About the Author

Patrick Cooper is the author of O'Driscoll's Treasure, I Is Someone Else and Wings to Fly. He lives in England.You can learn more about Cooper at patrickcooper.me.uk/

Editorial Reviews

A teen embarks on a search for truth in 1960s England. After his A-level exams, 18-year-old Stephen Wiston slogs his way through village life until a visit to London reunites him with Astrid, a past crush and companion. With Astrid's encouragement, Stephen leaves the village, attending the Isle of Wight Festival, squatting in Brixton and joining a commune led by Astrid's former lover, Spencer. When Astrid is critically injured, Stephen learns that he's not the only one in pursuit of purpose. Cooper avoids both period and contemporary language, strengthening a somewhat weak narrative voice through the casual word choices. Stephen's personality is thin, overshadowed by a lack of purpose and driven by external impetuses-odd for a character on a quest. Secondary characters, from tortured Vietnam War veterans to slumming rich girls, add charm and flavor to the plot-at least until their abrupt departures. Alternating themes advocating either self-reflection or self-abandonment are finally resolved, though the positive conclusion seems unrealistic. Ultimately, there's nothing hampering the tale, but nothing to recommend it either. (Fiction. YA)

Kirkus Reviews