NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the co-author of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society comes a wise, witty, and exuberant novel, perfect for fans of Lee Smith, that illuminates the power of loyalty and forgiveness, memory and truth, and the courage it takes to do what’s right. Annie Barrows once again evokes the charm and eccentricity of a small town filled with extraordinary … of a small town filled with extraordinary characters. Her new novel, The Truth According to Us, brings to life an inquisitive young girl, her beloved aunt, and the alluring visitor who changes the course of their destiny forever.
In the summer of 1938, Layla Beck’s father, a United States senator, cuts off her allowance and demands that she find employment on the Federal Writers’ Project, a New Deal jobs program. Within days, Layla finds herself far from her accustomed social whirl, assigned to cover the history of the remote mill town of Macedonia, West Virginia, and destined, in her opinion, to go completely mad with boredom. But once she secures a room in the home of the unconventional Romeyn family, she is drawn into their complex world and soon discovers that the truth of the town is entangled in the thorny past of the Romeyn dynasty.
At the Romeyn house, twelve-year-old Willa is desperate to learn everything in her quest to acquire her favorite virtues of ferocity and devotion—a search that leads her into a thicket of mysteries, including the questionable business that occupies her charismatic father and the reason her adored aunt Jottie remains unmarried. Layla’s arrival strikes a match to the family veneer, bringing to light buried secrets that will tell a new tale about the Romeyns. As Willa peels back the layers of her family’s past, and Layla delves deeper into town legend, everyone involved is transformed—and their personal histories completely rewritten.
Praise for The Truth According to Us
“As delightfully eccentric as Guernsey yet refreshingly different . . . an epic but intimate family novel with richly imagined characters . . . Willa’s indomitable spirit, keen sense of adventure and innate intelligence reminded me of two other motherless girls in literature: Scout Finch in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and Flavia de Luce in Alan Bradley’s big-hearted British mystery series.”—The Washington Post
“The Truth According to Us has all the characteristics of a great summer read: A plot that makes you want to keep turning the pages; a setting that makes you feel like you’re inhabiting another time and place; and characters who become people you’re sad to leave behind—and thus who always stay with you.”—Miami Herald
“It takes a brave author to make the heroine of a new novel an observant and feisty girl . . . like Scout Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. . . . But Barrows . . . has created a believable and touching character in Willa.”—USA Today
“[A] heartwarming coming-of-age novel [that] sparkles with folksy depictions of a tight-knit family and life in a small town . . . full of richly drawn, memorable characters.”—The Seattle Times
“A big, juicy family saga with warm humor and tragic twists . . . The story gets more and more absorbing as it moves briskly along.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Annie Barrows leaves no doubt that she is a storyteller of rare caliber, with wisdom and insight to spare. Every page rings like a bell.”—Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife
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I loved this book…and probably would have given it five stars if I hadn’t read two even better books right before it. (I don’t review books unless I can give them five stars). Consider the 4 stars an “almost 5” review. This story focuses the Federal Writer’s project and a young woman of aristocratic background who finds herself dependent on welfare. While the whole book is very well written, all the characters are flawed, including the main character, which makes it a little hard to warm up to them. I would have liked a little more depth to characters and setting, but that’s really just a quibble. Overall, this is a very enjoyable read about a shallow young woman who discovers how shallow she is…and does something about it.
This historical fiction piece takes place during the Depression. A young woman gets a job with the government’s writer’s project to write a book about the history of Macedonia, West Virginia. While working on the project, she boards with a family that is much different than her own. As she interviews people for her book, she learns “the real story” from the family she’s living with. She has to decide what the truth really is. In addition, the family’s secrets are uncovered by the spying done by a young preteen girl looking to understand her family better. When the real truth comes out, the long believed truths are shattered and relationships broken.
I enjoyed the writing style used in the book with letters, notes, and book excerpts to help push the plot along and to develop the characters more fully. Definitely an interesting book to read.
Loved this book. Would read it again
This book is special. Like “To Kill a Mockingbird” special. Loved it.
I t was probably a good book but I quit reading it because so many pages were missing!
I enjoyed this book very much.
This book was about 100 pages too long and yet about 50 pages too short. There were repetitions in stories told in the various voices of different characters that were not helpful in advancing the story and some vignettes that could easily have been left out. The voice of the author who wrote Guernsey was very evident, particularly in the early chapters, which made me think I was going to love this story as much as I did GLPPPS. Although it was good, it was not nearly as good as Guernsey. It rather whimpered to the end and then slapped on an epilogue that needed more development. I especially needed more Emmett.
In the midst of the Great Depression, Layla Beck’s father, the Honorable Senator from Delaware, cuts her off and she must go on relief. Fortunately for Layla, she has friends in high places and, unlike the millions standing in soup lines, she’s able to quickly secure a job as a writer for the Federal Writers’ Project. Promptly, she is shuttled off to little Macedonia, West Virginia, a far cry from her previous summer playground, Cape May.
Macedonia is, Layla quickly deduces, a hick town, with little of consequence. (It does not, however, have coal mines, for which is is at least minimally grateful.) Still she must write her book, and she throws herself into the task with gusto. As the weeks pass, her life becomes intertwined with the formerly proud but now fallen Romeyns, in particular shady Felix and his daughters Bird and Willa, as well as Felix’s steady but odd siblings, Jottie, Mae, Emmett, and Minerva.
I *loved* the The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, of which Annie Barrows was one of two authors, and I wanted to love this. And I did love parts of it. The names, for example. Jottie. Willa. Bird. Felix. Also, the incorporation of the Federal Writers’ Project, and some of the hilarious interactions between author and subject(s). Likewise, The Truth According to Us does a fine job of capturing the prettiness and pettiness of small-town America, and America teetering between the teeth of the Great Depression and the brink of World War II.
In the end, though, I couldn’t help but feel a bit…meh. In part, I believe that’s because the letter writing device, which worked to so well in Guernsey, seemed trite and tired here. A few pages chopped here and there wouldn’t have hurt. The characters, too, felt overdrawn to the point of caricature and Willa, for whom I believe the reader is supposed to have the greatest felling, evoked a combination of contempt and pity from me. Mostly, though, I put that down to the ending, which, without giving anything away, left me disappointed. Barrows, it seemed, was about proving some larger “life lesson” than allowing the story to end as seemed most fitting. Or least as I deemed most fitting.
(This review was originally published at http://www.thisyearinbooks.com/2016/11/the-truth-according-to-us.html)
Just okay – doesn’t hold a candle to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society.
I love a book that makes you laugh and cry all at the same time. Great book.
A very interesting novel. Highly recommend it.
ANOTHER epistolary novel by this author. I found myself unmotivated by the story and the characters.
i loved it! Marvelous characters. A wonderful book to read before you go to sleep at night. You will smile all night.
The characters are so delightful – you must read this book!
Loved this book!! Depicted characters so well!!!
I enjoyed this book very much. The characters were well developed and it was unpredictable in the sense that I didn’t know how it would resolve. In a way, the book reminded me of the writing style of “To Kill a Mockingbird”.
Everything in the novel that creates a believable locale.
I loved this book so much. The characters are well developed and the world is realistic. I loved Her earlier book and was delighted to come across this.
Set in during the Depression in West Virginia it has an interesting perspective. Well written and engaging.
Loved the characters in this book. Not your typical black and white good vs evil, but rather shades of grey and the messiness of love and humanity.