She cannot, however, get Linda out of her mind. Sarah receives a solo in the school concert and goes on a date with a boy named Ennis. Sarah feels that the Devil made her act the way she did and she feels that she never wants to see Linda again. Judy arrives and sees the pair kissing and Sarah flees. They have an argument, and Sarah kisses Linda. It angers Sarah that Linda watches the black students as they are bullied but never does anything to stop it. Linda sees this happen, and the next time she sees Sarah, she asks how Paulie is doing.

The girls discuss the problems with their families, but are interrupted when Linda’s friends see them together and Linda leaves.Īs the story continues, Bo and some friends throw rocks at Sarah’s friend Paulie. Sarah happens to be there and Linda lets her read the article. She decides against publishing it and goes to the bathroom to get rid of it. Linda then composes another article that suggests that some blacks deserve the same treatment as whites. To her, Sarah’s manners and intelligence show that she is different. Still, as Linda gets to know Sarah, she begins to realize that her father’s opinion that all blacks are lazy and criminals is not the truth. Linda and Sarah have a disagreement, and the following day, Linda writes an opinion piece for the school newspaper in which she stresses her unwillingness to accept integration. She gets together with Judy and Sarah at the drugstore at which Judy works, and they work on the project. Linda is afraid of how her father might react to her working with a black girl so decides to keep the situation from him. The three then arrive late to French class so are assigned a project to work on together. Linda and Judy go into the bathroom where they find Sarah in tears. Linda steps in to stop the bullying which was led by Bo Nash. After this incident, Sarah sees them chasing Ruth, her younger sister. During the following day at school, a group of white boys grab at Sarah’s chest. Sarah then learns that Linda’s father, William, is the editor of the local newspaper and is an opponent of integration. Judy has difficulty with the subject and willingly works with Sarah. In her French class, Sarah is partnered with Judy who is a friend of Linda. A white girl, Linda Hairston, moves her seat when Sarah sits beside her, which prompts other students to do the same.

They are taunted and pushed by other students, and, regardless of their backgrounds, Sarah for example was a top student at her former school, they are placed in remedial classes. The story opens in 1959 with Sarah Dunbar and nine other students becoming the first blacks to join the student body of the now integrated Jefferson High School in Davisburg, Virginia. Lies We Tell Ourselves, the 2014 debut novel by Robin Talley was the first winner of the Amnesty CILIP Honour and the Concorde Book Award.

Lies we tell ourselves by robin talley