Frances Hardinge is a Smuggler Favourite and we await anxiously for every single new release. The Lie Tree is her upcoming novel (publishing on May 7 2015) and we couldn’t be happier to be hosting this exclusive excerpt and giveaway opp. ABOUT THE BOOK Plagued by an unspoken scandal, fourteen-year-old Faith Sunderly and her family are forced to flee their home in Kent to start a new life. But news travels fast, and the gossip they’re running from soon reaches the small island community of Vane, to devastating effect. When Faith’s father is found dead under mysterious circumstances, she is determined to untangle the truth from the lies. Patriarchal Victorian society may not listen to a girl’s questions, but Faith has other plans. Following the trail left behind in her father’s books, and their secret father-daughter night-time boat ride, Faith discovers her father’s biggest secret . . . A tree that feeds off whispered lies and bears fruit that reveals hidden secrets. The bigger the lie, and the more people who believe it, the bigger the truth that is uncovered. But as Faith’s untruths spread like wildfire across the island, she discovers that sometimes a single lie is more potent […]