Book Review: The Truth According to Us

At 19 hours long, The Truth According to Us is quite a reading investment. But, the author is Annie Barrows, who wrote The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I enjoyed that, so I expected to enjoy this one, too. Annie Barrows is also the author of a beloved series my younger boys and I devoured back in the day, the Ivy and Bean series. She comes with credentials.

Yet, I wasn't a fan of this one. Perhaps the whiny, high-pitched voice of the Willa character soured me. It took forever to build to the climax of the story, a full 13 CDs. But 2 CDs remained. The ending didn't satisfy me either. After the volatile high-point, the rest of the story whimpered to an end. If I was after a happy ending, this wasn't the right book.

Layla Beck's senator father is furious when she refuses to marry the suitor he has selected. He cuts her off and sends her to work for her keep with the Federal Writers' Project, writing a history for Macedonia, West Virginia. It is a hot summer in 1938. Layla boards with the colorful Romeyn family. Jottie Romeyn cares for her nieces, Willa and Bird. 12-year-old Willa is determined to figure out the truth about everything. But the truth lies entrenched in this quirky family. What is the devastating event in the past? Thankfully, the mystery of that event held my interest and kept me listening, despite the length of the book and my hesitant involvement.

Apart from curiosity about the truth in the past, I didn't feel invested. Nor did I love the characters. It just didn't click for me with this book. I'm not ready to give up on Annie Barrows' books. She's proven her skills before. I much preferred the Guernsey book to this one. 

Content caution: language