Winner of the Costa Book of the Year 2015.

The Lie Tree is a wonderfully evocative and atmospheric novel by Frances Hardinge, award-winning author of Cuckoo Song and Fly By Night.

Faith's father has been found dead under mysterious circumstances, and as she is searching through his belongings for clues she discovers a strange tree. The tree only grows healthy and bears fruit if you whisper a lie to it. The fruit of the tree, when eaten, will deliver a hidden truth to the person who consumes it. The bigger the lie, the more people who believe it, the bigger the truth that is uncovered.

The girl realizes that she is good at lying and that the tree might hold the key to her father's murder, so she begins to spread untruths far and wide across her small island community. But as her tales spiral out of control, she discovers that where lies seduce, truths shatter . . .

This book is the winner of numerous awards. It was recognised by the The Whitbread Award, now called 'The Costa Book Awards'. These are a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in Britain and Ireland. They were inaugurated for 1971 publications and known as the Whitbread Book Awards until 2006 when Costa Coffee, then a subsidiary of Whitbread, took over sponsorship. It was recognised in the Ages 12-16 Years category by the UK Literacy Association Book Award. It also was recognised in the Children's Book of the Year category by the British Book Award. It was recognised by the YA Book Award. Also it was recognised by the Carnegie Award. The CILIP Carnegie Medal is awarded by childrens librarians for an outstanding book written in English for children and young people.

This book has been graded for interest at 12-16 years.

There are 432 pages in this book. This book was published 2018 by Pan Macmillan .

Emilia Fox is a British actress best known for her role of Dr. Nikki Alexander on BBC crime drama Silent Witness. She was born in Hammersmith and also read Frances Hardinge's A Skinful of Shadows.