Lies We Tell Ourselves

Sarah Dunbar enters a previously all-white Virginia high school in 1959 and encounters hostility from students and the institution meant to educate her. Linda Hairston has grown up hearing her father defend segregation and has rarely questioned what he teaches. A school assignment forces the two girls to work together, bringing their conflicting understandings of race and power into close contact. Their developing attraction creates questions neither can keep separate from the world around them. Robin Talley’s historical YA novel follows two viewpoints through desegregation, examining prejudice, unequal choices and the work of finding a voice when family and community insist on defining the truth.