Lies We Tell Ourselves

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. 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. 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.

A white girl, Linda Hairston, moves her seat when Sarah sits beside her, which prompts other students to do the same. In her French class, Sarah is partnered with Judy who is a friend of Linda. Judy has difficulty with the subject and willingly works with Sarah. Sarah then learns that Linda’s father, William, is the editor of the local newspaper and is an opponent of integration. During the following day at school, a group of white boys grab at Sarah’s chest. After this incident, Sarah sees them chasing Ruth, her younger sister. Linda steps in to stop the bullying which was led by Bo Nash. Linda and Judy go into the bathroom where they find Sarah in tears. The three then arrive late to French class so are assigned a project to work on together.

Linda is afraid of how her father might react to her working with a black girl so decides to keep the situation from him. She gets together with Judy and Sarah at the drugstore at which Judy works, and they work on the project. 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. 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. To her, Sarah’s manners and intelligence show that she is different. Linda then composes another article that suggests that some blacks deserve the same treatment as whites. She decides against publishing it and goes to the bathroom to get rid of it. Sarah happens to be there and Linda lets her read the article. The girls discuss the problems with their families, but are interrupted when Linda’s friends see them together and Linda leaves.



As the story continues, Bo and some friends throw rocks at Sarah’s friend Paulie. Linda sees this happen, and the next time she sees Sarah, she asks how Paulie is doing. It angers Sarah that Linda watches the black students as they are bullied but never does anything to stop it. They have an argument, and Sarah kisses Linda. Judy arrives and sees the pair kissing and Sarah flees. Sarah feels that the Devil made her act the way she did and she feels that she never wants to see Linda again. Sarah receives a solo in the school concert and goes on a date with a boy named Ennis. She cannot, however, get Linda out of her mind. The choir plans to ruin Sarah’s solo by having the musician play it incorrectly. When it turns out that the sheet music is not available at the concert, Sarah performs a cappella, following a solo by Linda. Sarah is so talented that the next soloist leaves the stage.

Following the concert, Sarah’s friends and family are happy for her. A friend named Chuck says that Sarah gave a better performance than Linda, which prompts Linda to announce, in front of all of the parents, that Chuck is involved in a relationship with Kathy Shepard, a white girl. Following this incident, a cross is burned in front of Chuck’s home by white people who learned of the relationship. The day after this, Chuck is drunk and has a fight with Bo and other white boys in front of the drugstore. Chuck is seriously injured in the skirmish, and Linda stays with him as Sarah calls for an ambulance. Chuck is expelled from the high school for being involved in a fight. Linda writes another editorial saying that the white boys were wrong in what they did to Chuck and that the blacks should not be treated in this way. Linda’s friends at school are shocked that Linda feels this way, although Judy supports her. Linda asks Sarah to come to her house but they quickly leave when Linda’s father returns home and has read Linda’s article. Sarah and Linda share another kiss and go back to their own homes. Linda finds the strength to stand up to her father and runs to Judy’s house.

As the tale concludes, Sarah has a job for the summer in Washington, D.C., and Linda accompanies her. Sarah then attends Howard University. NPR said of Lies We Tell Ourselves, “Sarah's viewpoint alternates with that of Linda Hairston, the daughter of Davisburg's most ardent segregationist. While I felt an initial distrust for a narrative that would balance the journey of a black girl literally struggling for her life with that of a white girl realizing that racism is wrong, Linda eventually won me over. It works in large part because Talley uses these alternating points of view to generate an absolutely thrilling, head-over-heels love story that owes a great deal to traditional romance novel modes of storytelling (while blowing a big raspberry at their whiteness and heteronormativity).”