Lie

Cornwall, 1920. Infantry officer Daniel Branwell has returned to his coastal hometown after the war. Unmoored and alone, Daniel spends his days in solitude, quietly working the land. However, all is not as it seems in the peaceful idylls of the countryside; and although he has left the trenches, Daniel cannot escape his dreadful past.

As former friendships re-ignite, Daniel is drawn deeper and deeper into the tangled traumas of his youth and the memories of his best friend and his first love. Old wounds reopen, and old troubles resurface, though none so great as the lie that threatens to ruin Daniels life, the lie from which he cannot run.

Told with Dunmores breathtaking poise and exacting suspense, The Lie is a haunting and captivating journey through the mind of a tormented man, as he tries to fit the pieces of his shattered past together.

“Dunmore captures how a single moment can change the course of a life”—Gillian Flynn, Entertainment Weekly on Ice Cream

“Dunmores carefully observed stories demonstrate her ear for language and her eye for the telling moment.” —The New York Times Book Review

“When reading Dunmore, there is always the consolation of being with a fine mind.” —The Houston Chronicle

“Her writing is both elegant and revealing.”—The Seattle Times

“Dunmores rich writing [is] by turns muscular and poetic.”—The Washington Post

"Lyrical and haunting...With this novel, Dunmore should rank high among writers like Kipling who explore war, its aftermath, and its lies. At the culmination of The Lie, we are left with a reflection on how war for many soldiers does not end with treaties or returns to bucolic homes and old loves, but continues with the ghosts of those who died on the battlefield always there, haunting them—and us all."—Washington Independent Review of Books

"A piercing look at the long and lingering tentacles of war...Dunmore writes with elegant authority, her language crisp and tense."—Entertainment Weekly

"A poignant reminder that throughout history, the battle is far from over after a soldier returns home....As this impeccable and finely wrought literary tale winds to a chilling conclusion, readers will themselves be haunted by its evocative portrayal of a life-defining friendship and loss."—Bookpage

"Devastating and triumphant...wholly satisfying. Endings are often the hardest beast for an author to tame, but Dunmore does it, with elegance, vigor and clarity."—The Denver Post

"[A]moving and complex novel...Dunmore does a superb job of capturing her leads inner torment, even as his story creeps toward a shattering conclusion."—Publishers Weekly (starred, boxed review)

“[A] tender tale… subtle and enduring...A quiet tragedy… a poet's feeling for language shines through the descriptions of the landscape…in this novel Dunmore has wreaked tenderness out of tragedy, so that the reader is left with the sense that something beautiful, however fleeting, has been salvaged from the darkness.”—The Observer (UK)

“Heartbreaking… the emotional power resonates.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Distinguished by the sensual, compact intensity of Dunmores prose, The Lie lays bare on its local canvas the invisible wounds of a global catastrophe.”— Independent (UK)

“The Lie is a fine example of Dunmores ability to perceive the long vistas of history in which the dead remain restless…It is a book in which ghosts, perhaps, remain imaginary: but they are none the less real for that.”—Guardian (UK)

“Helen Dunmores two resources are imagination and research. Shes strong on both counts…a very good novel. 2014 is a very good year to read it.”—The Times UK)

“Visceral and elegantly plotted.”—Daily Mail (UK)

“An enthralling novel of love and devastating loss… Powerful storytelling.”—Good Housekeeping, Book of the Month

“Orange-prize winning author Helen Dunmore explores the relationship between two First World War soldiers: Daniel, who survived, and his childhood friend Frederick, who died, plus Daniels ambiguous bond with Fredericks sister Felicia. A dark and haunting exploration of grief and guilt.”—Sunday Express, Hot Books for 2014

“Famed for her searing accounts of the siege of Leningrad and its aftermath, Helen Dunmore moves to England after the First World War in The Lie. She chronicles the struggle of a young man without family and homeless amid the quiet landscape of Cornwall, trying to escape his memories of trench warfare.”—Daily Express, Top titles for 2014

“Exceptionally good.”—Western News

“The writing, even at its most harrowing, is suffused with poetry and evocative description…a heart-wrenching portrait of psychological crucifixion.”—Literary Review

“An extraordinarily affecting novel…crunchingly powerful…whats most heartbreaking about the novel is the hesitant, awkward intimacy between Daniel and Felicia.”—Reader's Digest

“Exciting…the four year wait for this new novel promises to be well worth it.”—The Upcoming.com, Five books to watch out for in 2014

“A stunning, understated novel that breathes with authenticity…Surely a must for all the prize lists.”—Bookseller

“An enthralling, heart-wrenching novel of love, memory and devastating loss by one of the UKs most acclaimed storytellers… If you only read one novel in 2014 set during WWI, this must be the one.”—Absolutely West

Praise for Helen Dunmore:

“Dunmore captures how a single moment can change the course of a life.” —Gillian Flynn, Entertainment Weekly

“Dunmores carefully observed stories demonstrate her ear for language and her eye for the telling moment.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Her writing is both elegant and revealing.”—The Seattle Times

“Dunmores rich writing [is] by turns muscular and poetic.”—The Washington Post

“When reading Dunmore, there is always the consolation of being with a fine mind.” —The Houston Chronicle

Cornwall, 1920. Daniel Branwell has survived the First World War and returned to the small fishing town where he was born. Behind him lie the trenches and the most intense relationship of his life. As he works on the land, struggling to make a living in the aftermath of war, he is drawn deeper and deeper into the traumas of the past and memories of his dearest friend and his first love. Above all, as the drama unfolds, Daniel is haunted by the terrible, unforeseen consequences of a lie. Set in France during the First World War and in post-war Cornwall, this is a deeply moving and mesmerizing story of the “men who marched away”.