SuitabookThe Lie Tree
Frances Hardinge
- Reading
- Read alongside the child, pausing to clarify Victorian expectations, scientific and religious ideas, and the difference between uncovering truth and causing harm through deception.
- Themes
- Women’s knowledge and power: Faith wants to study natural science but is constrained by Victorian beliefs about women’s intelligence and proper behaviour. Women are portrayed as needing to act indirectly within a restrictive society. The book takes a critical view of this.
- Truth, lies and responsibility: Faith feeds lies to a tree that produces fruit revealing hidden truths. Lies are also described as spreading and taking on a life of their own. Deception empowers Faith and advances the investigation, but the imagery and plot framing also emphasise its capacity for harm and loss of control.
- Science, belief and authority: The Victorian setting includes debate between Darwin’s evolutionary ideas and established creation beliefs, alongside scientific research connected to Faith’s father. These debates appear as part of the historical and intellectual setting, inviting thought about how people respond when accepted explanations are challenged.
- Worth knowing
- The book may merit preparation for a death investigation, an apparent suicide, unsettling Victorian death photography, gender-based belittling, and references to scientific research undertaken for troubling or bad reasons; the intensity and detail of these scenes remain unclear.