What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell

When Evie Spooner’s step-father, Joe, returns from the World War II, she and her family fall back into their old patterns pretty quickly. Joe is doing very well at his business, her mom and grandmother are back to fighting for his attention, and Evie is herself, only in a more grown-up way. In a moment of apparent restlessness, Joe takes the family for a vacation in Florida during the off-season. While staying at a hotel that is almost empty, the Spooners meet Mr. and Mrs. Grayson. Like the Spooners, they are also from New York, and are looking to purchase a hotel in Florida. Joe and Mr. Grayson recognize that they could have a business partnership, and work towards it until it is discovered that the Graysons are Jewish. The hotel staff insists that the Graysons leave, and the deal falls through. Meanwhile, the Spooners have also been confronted by Peter Coleridge, a soldier who knew Joe in the war. Evie begins to fall in love with Peter, despite the obvious discomfort he causes Joe and the less obvious, but equally tense relationship between Peter and her mother. Evie slowly recognizes a web of lies surrounding the three but chooses to ignore it. She is able to avoid the situation for a while, but after a sailing accident, Evie is forced to take someone’s side. Whose will she take?

There’s something about this book and the characters that is so intriguing and different from other young adult books that makes it stand out. The setting for the book is described only as far as is needed to continue the story, but the details are true to the era. The storyline devoted to the Graysons illustrates the alienation of Jewish families even on this side of the war. Evie’s relationship with her mother is complicated—she admires her mother’s beauty, her feminine qualities, and has a strong bond with her, but she also recognizes that her mother is her competition for Peter’s attention. She longs to be like her, but wants to be completely separate too. This dynamic creates almost palatable tension in the final scenes before Evie makes her decision of whose side she will take. In fact, the complexity of her relationship with her mother makes Evie’s decision completely unpredictable.

I find the title really intriguing too, because it seems to imply that there is one single instance that influences Evie’s choices, but instead, I think that there are several things that she sees that sway her decisions. I thought this book was very thought provoking. Would I have reacted in the same way? What about you?