The Big Lie

by Julie Mayhew

Overview

In a gripping novel set in present-day England under a Nazi regime, a sheltered teen questions what it means to be “good” — and how far she’s willing to go to break the rules.

Nazi England, 2014. Jessika Keller is a good girl — a champion ice skater, model student of the Bund Deutscher Mädel, and dutiful daughter of the Greater German Reich. Her best friend, Clementine, is not so submissive. Passionately different, Clem is outspoken, dangerous, and radical. And the regime has noticed. Jess cannot keep both her perfect life and her dearest friend, her first love. But which can she live without? Haunting, intricate, and unforgettable, The Big Lie unflinchingly interrogates perceptions of revolution, feminism, sexuality, and protest. Back matter includes historical notes from the author discussing her reasons for writing an “alt-history” story and the power of speculative fiction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763694012
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	11/14/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	983 KB
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Julie Mayhew is the author of Red Ink, her debut novel. She has written plays for radio and the stage and is the cofounder and host of a short-story cabaret and the head of a writers’ workshop. Julie Mayhew lives in England.

Editorial Reviews

★ 10/02/2017
Mayhew (Red Ink) imagines a present-day Britain under Nazi rule in the story of Jessika, a perfect daughter of both the Reich and her Reich minister father, who ends up becoming someone the state will not tolerate. Jessika moves around in time as she narrates: she’s 17, about to graduate and go off to skate camp when the book starts; she’s seven when she meets new neighbor Clementine, who becomes her best friend. Clementine has always been different, outspoken, and unconvinced of the regime’s claims, which worries Jessika. She knows her parents and the Reich are right, but she loves Clementine, both as a friend and as something more, which is a problem since homosexuality is illegal in her homeland. Mayhew manages two feats, both crucial: she creates a believable modern-day Nazi society built on rules, silence, and surveillance, and a compelling depiction of a girl caught between what she has always been taught and what she is coming to suspect is true. As Jessika discovers, the truth is both dangerous and liberating. Ages 14–up. Agent: Louise Lamont, LBA. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Mayhew explores the very unnerving scenario of a world in which the Nazi regime is still in power and thriving—and why...Terrifying and eerily timely, this is a difficult read—emotionally—for mature readers. An excellent choice for most YA shelves.
—School Library Journal (starred review)

Mayhew manages two feats, both crucial: she creates a believable modern-day Nazi society built on rules, silence, and surveillance, and a compelling depiction of a girl caught between what she has always been taught and what she is coming to suspect is true. As Jessika discovers, the truth is both dangerous and liberating.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Readers who know their World War II history and enjoy extremely unreliable narrators will find great satisfaction in puzzling out the truth behind the horrors Jess leaves unspoken.
—Kirkus Reviews

Mayhew’s careful research and richly detailed plot create a frighteningly real world, and her thoughtful afterword explicitly spells out questions about our right and responsibility to create change through revolution.
—Booklist

Mayhew offers an intelligent, complex view of a dystopian society, one that reflects historical realities and, chillingly, our current world as well. In writing that’s quick, fresh, and witty she implicitly challenges readers, the “you” to whom Jess’s narrative is addressed, to choose between asking questions (“because you can”) and the alternative: “It’s all so easy, I don’t really have to think at all.”
—Horn Book

Beyond its alternate history premise, the book deftly examines the ways in which gender roles and sexuality play out under a society that strictly delineates them...There are surprises for both Jess and the reader in the ending, making this a timely piece for teens to consider what pacifism and/or protest looks like and the costs each entail; an author’s note explains her inspiration.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Frightening in its realness, The Big Lie is a standout: a warning, a call to action, and a terrific novel.
—ForeWord Reviews

This haunting, deeply disturbing novel will stay with you long after the final page is turned.
—Buffalo News

Mayhew includes helpful historical notes and English translations of the German used in this fast-paced, imaginative story.
—BookPage

From the Publisher

★ 10/01/2017
Gr 10 Up—Imagine a world in which the iron fist of the Third Reich clamped over England and never let go. Jess enjoys her strict routine—classes, ice-skating, classes again, and home to her government-favored father. Only when her neighbor and friend Clementine begins to show uncomfortable signs of sedition does Jess begin to question things. Why does their house get raided in the middle of the night? Why is it acceptable for some people to have better goods and services if they are all supposed to be equal? In this alt-history novel, Mayhew explores the very unnerving scenario of a world in which the Nazi regime is still in power and thriving—and why. Aside from normal teenage issues, Mayhew grapples with how homosexuality is presented and dealt with in this fictional—but frighteningly factual—story. When Clementine gives a hard sacrifice to attain freedom, Jess's rose-colored glasses finally break. How can she reconcile her entire upbringing with what she saw and the aftermath? Terrifying and eerily timely, this is a difficult read—emotionally—for mature readers. VERDICT An excellent choice for most YA shelves.—Amanda C. Buschmann, Carroll Elementary School, Houston

School Library Journal

2017-08-27
Jessika is an upstanding schoolgirl in the English countryside of the Greater German Reich.It's been almost 75 years since Germany invaded—that is, since Operation Seelöwe liberated England from the filthy refugees on Britain's shores. Jess focuses on ice-skating, youth group, and enjoying the next few years before she settles down with a husband. It's awkward that she wants to kiss her best friend, Clementine, but she can fix that, somehow. But why does Clementine make everything difficult, saying disruptive things about freedom and showing off her illegal CD player? Still, it must be a mistake when Clementine has a scheduled sterilization; isn't that operation just for "proper idiot girls…deaf ones too, the deformed ones"? Jess chooses naiveté, revealing her world through the negative space of what she doesn't say. Through a jumping timeline, Jess details the events building up to a concert and its tragic aftermath: brutal medical treatment for the "blip" in her affections, black triangle badges, a re-education camp. ("I was here to work, and that work would set me free.") The setting, with its brainwashing, personality cults, and information seclusion from the rest of the world, evokes contemporary North Korea. Readers who know their World War II history and enjoy extremely unreliable narrators will find great satisfaction in puzzling out the truth behind the horrors Jess leaves unspoken. (Alternate history. 15-adult)

Kirkus Reviews