What I Saw and How I Lied

Judy Blundell's book, What I Saw and How I Lied, was totally unexpected.  The story was full of intrigue and deceit.  I bought it on a whim, because of its setting, Post World War II.  I received much more than I bargained for.

Evie Spooner is 15.  She is a typical school girl.  Her mother, Beverly, is a bombshell, with a reputation to match.  Bev was a young mother and her first husband walked out on her.  She married Joe right before he left to fight in Europe. Bev and Evie have struggled for years, Bev's marriage to Joe was a good decision.  Joe has opened three appliance stores since he returned from fighting.  It seemed as though the family of three would be able to move to a bigger house away from Grandma Glad, Joe's cantankerous mother.

Joe's been receiving a bunch of phone calls lately, all of which he ignores.  The mysterious calls seem to leave him on edge.  He seems even more spooked when Grandma Glad tells him the caller plans to stop by for a visit.  This prompts a spontaneous trip to Florida!

Joe, Bev and Evie begin the journey to the Sunshine State and settle into the Le Mirage, a virtually deserted Palm Beach hotel.  Apparently everyone, except the Spooner family knows that Palm Beach shuts down for the summer and fall!  Once in Palm Beach, a pal of Joe's shows up.  Peter Coleridge.  Evie quickly develops a crush on Peter.  While Evie and Peter develop a friendship, her parents form a friendship with another couple, the Graysons.

Enter intrigue, suspense and mystery.  Now, the story gets good.  I truly enjoyed Blundell's story.  I especially liked the innocence of Evie's character.  Evie began the story as an innocent school girl and ended the story as a woman.