I Am Reading: The Girl Who Couldn't Lie by Radhika Sanghani
The Girl Who Couldn't Lie by Radhika Sanghani 👉
| Publisher: | Usborne Publishing Ltd |
|---|---|
| Publish date: | 9 May 2024 |
A comedy of everything you never wanted to say out loud…
I always love how ideas can be repurposed to tell brand new stories. The idea of the person magically forced to always tell the truth is one we know from e.g. Liar, Liar, but for Radhika Sanghani, it becomes a tale of how we so often present a 'perfect' face to the world, and how that hurts us more than we realise.
For Priya (the main character), the magic comes from her Ba, the one person she could always be honest with. Everyone else sees a 'perfect' version – perfect student, perfect gymnast, perfect friend. When the bangle kicks in, her world starts to wobble…
Cleverly, Sanghani accepts that we understand this game, and so does Priya, playing with the rules, skirting the truth and lying by omission. But gradually she does learn that her life becomes better when she admits the hard truths – and not just her, but others around her.
It's funny, clever, but also affecting, and it really shows the stress of trying to present a perfect facade to please others. An engaging read!
Thanks to Usborne for sending me a copy of this book.