What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell

When fifteen-year-old Evie’s stepfather, Joe, returns home from the World War II, he is different. After receiving a mysterious phone call, he suddenly decides to pack up Evie and her mom, Bev, for a trip to Palm Beach, Florida. Palm Beach is dead in the off season, but the family forms a friendship with the Graysons, another vacationing couple, and Evie becomes smitten with Peter, a private in the army who served with Joe in Europe. The more time that Evie spends with older Peter, the deeper her feelings for him become and soon she believes she is in love. When tragedy strikes, Evie soon learns that none of the adults in her life are what they seem and she is forced to make extremely difficult and very grown up decisions.

Blundell’s historical coming-of-age novel is well-written and thought provoking but unlikely to have mass appeal with teens. This is a novel that will appeal only to mature readers who are able to handle multidimensional plot line, complex characters, and the slow way the truths of Evie’s reality are revealed.