THE LIE TREE

At the story’s start, narrator Charlotte Wright expresses 14-year-old Faith Sunderly’s emotional distress. She is cowed and confused as her family leaves Kent because of a scandal kept secret from her. Wright strengthens the sense of Faith’s lonely turmoil through portrayals of her stern father and self-involved mother. Through poignant depictions, Wright captures how Faith’s intelligence and scientific gifts are squelched by the defined gender roles of nineteenth-century society. Eventually, Faith’s need to understand what is going on drives her to explore her father’s papers and to discover a mysterious truth-telling tree. Through shifts in tone, Wright communicates Faith’s increased confidence as well as her horror at the tree’s power. As narrator, Wright dazzles with her character portrayals and propels listeners through this gripping story. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2016]