Telling Lies

Set in 1942 in Occupied France, Telling Lies is the story of a 15-year-old girl, Simone, whose family are supporters of the Resistance. Simone finds herself taking an active part in helping a New Zealand airman who has parachuted out of his crippled RAF bomber near their farm. This tale of what it was like to live in Occupied France evokes the varying moods of the times superbly: paranoia, fear, defiance, betrayal, split loyalties, nostalgia for simpler times, hardship, quick thinking ... Against this beautifully evoked backdrop of time and place - and consideration of the issues that people of all ages had to face - is a thrilling adventure whose twists and turns hold you in thrall. Patricia was inspired to write the book by a trip to France in 2008, when she met Monique Fillerin, the last surviving member of the legendary Fillerin family, who sheltered her father in 1942 and helped him escape back to England. While Telling Lies is fictional, it draws on some of her father's experiences as he recorded them in his diary."