The Big Lie
WINNER Sidewise Award For Alternate History 2015 | HONORARY MENTION Foreword Indies, US, 2017 | NOMINATED Bank Street Book of the Year, US, 2017; Cilip Carnegie Medal 2016 | SHORTLISTED Peters Book of the Year 2016, Shropshire Teenage Book of the Year, Hounslow Teen Read 2017
Buckinghamshire 2014. Jessika Keller is one of the Third Reich’s shining lights. She is an exemplary member of the Bund Deutscher Mädel, a future figure skating champion and the apple of her father’s eye. But when her neighbour and lifelong friend Clementine challenges the regime, Jessika begins to understand the terrifying reality of the society in which she lives.
The Big Lie is an alt-history thriller which asks readers to examine their own attitudes to feminism, sexuality and revolution.
BUY | Hive | Waterstones | WHSmith | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com |
UK Publication | Hot Key Books | Aug 2015 (HB), Nov 2017 (PB)
US Publisher | Candlewick
US Press
“It’s a doozy of a concept… An outstanding feature is Mayhew’s refusal to offer easy answers and pigeonhole characters; she respects the reader’s ability to handle ambiguity. 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
“Terrifying and eerily timely” - School Library Journal
“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 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
“Mayhew’s grasp of German culture and the potential outcome of losing to Nazi forces gives The Big Lie a refreshing urgency. Frightening in its realness, The Big Lie is a standout: a warning, a call to action, and a terrific novel” - Foreword Reviews
UK Press
“The Big Lie deftly takes on the big guns of dystopia, including sexism, feminism, sexuality, loyalty, propaganda, freedom and protest. Make sure you get a copy on your bookshelf, stat” - Stylist
“More than just another ‘what if the Nazis won the war?’ novel (though it’s a brilliantly realised example of the genre), this unputdownable book is also a powerful and moving exploration of friendship, family, sexuality and what it really means to be ‘good” - The Irish Times
“It’s set to be one of the most talked-about YA books of the year… a deeply chilling and unsettling book, exploring loyalty and rebellion, friendship and sexuality” - The Bookseller
“A scorching commentary for today as well as a powerful evocation of what might have been” - The Guardian
“Quietly devastating” - Author, Lucy Mangan
“Magnificent” - The Independent
“A genius idea, executed flawlessly” - Red Magazine
“Mayhew has produced a book of such style, subtlety and timeless relevance that it can, even in its infancy, be described as a modern classic” - We Love This Book
“The Big Lie is a compelling and mysterious tale of protest, obedience and identity and a novel to make you think” - The Telegraph
“Julie Mayhew’s star is on the rise following her widely praised debut Red Ink, and this book promises to pack an equal punch” - Scottish Book Trust
“Brave, beautiful and devastating. I finished it and haven’t stopped thinking about it” - Author, Rae Earl
“More than just another ‘what if the Nazis won the war?’ novel (though it’s a brilliantly realised example of the genre), this unputdownable book is also a powerful and moving exploration of friendship, family, sexuality and what it really means to be ‘good” - The Irish Times
“Chilling, beautifully written and stays with you long, long after you’ve turned the final page” - Author, Sarra Manning
“A pungent whiff of evil rises from these pages like body odour. But it’s also a disturbingly familiar world… Brilliant and compulsively readable” - Armadillo Magazine
“From the outset the reader is captivated by the direct first-person telling of the story, making it almost impossible to stop reading” - Inis Magazine
“The Big Lie is not only morally provocative – it is also a beautifully written and very tightly-plotted thriller, suffused with suspense and some stunning (and upsetting!) twists” - The Reading Zone