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“An uplifting and joyous read ... A refreshing new voice in commercial fiction”
UK
Would I Lie to You
From fresh new voice Aliya Ali-Afzal, Would I Lie to You? is a page-turning, warm and funny debut about what happens when you have your dream life – and are about to lose it.
At the school gates, Faiza fits in. It took a few years, but now the snobbish mothers who mistook her for the nanny treat her as one of their own. She's learned to crack their subtle codes, speak their language of handbags and haircuts and discreet silver watches. You'd never guess, at the glamorous kids' parties and the leisurely coffee mornings, that Faiza's childhood was spent following her parents round the Tooting Cash 'n' Carry.
When her husband Tom loses his job in finance, he stays calm. Something will come along, and in the meantime, they can live off their savings. But Faiza starts to unravel. Raising the perfect family comes at a cost – and the money Tom put aside has gone. When Tom's redundancy package ends, Faiza will have to tell him she's spent it all.
Unless she doesn't...
It only takes a second to lie to Tom. Now Faiza has six weeks to find £75,000 before her lie spirals out of control. If anyone can do it, Faiza can: she's had to fight for what she has, and she'll fight to keep it. But as the clock ticks down, and Faiza desperately tries to put things right, she has to ask herself: how much more should she sacrifice to protect her family?
USA / CAN
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Author Reviews
“Warm, intelligent, brilliantly wry… and keeps up the tension right till the end”
“A moral dilemma everyone can relate to.”
“Full of heart”
“Tense, funny, poignant and very clever”
“Intelligent and original”
“Convincing and compelling”
“A breath-taking, tense ride”
“I really enjoyed Would I Lie to You... Great for book clubs”
“I devoured this book. The writing is so fresh and light; funny in places, but moving in others... I’ll be recommending it to everyone I know”
“So warm, funny, sad and brilliantly written”
“Not just entertaining, but intelligent and original too... and the resourceful Faiza will steal your heart”
“A warm, funny, compelling, escapist read”
“Pacey, fun and full of heart. Faiza is such a war, relatable character. I was rooting for her all the way”
“I was hooked from the start and adored her warm funny heroine. A real pick me up of a book!”
“Addictive”
“This thought-provoking debut sizzles! I was holding my breath while turning pages, waiting for this pressure cooker to explode!”
Media Reviews
“An uplifting and joyous read... A refreshing new voice in commercial fiction”
“An engaging, entertaining, smart, and ultimately feel-good novel with huge emotional integrity and balance”
“A page-turner hinging on financial meltdown”
“Compelling and heart-warming”
“A brilliant read”
“This book acknowledges moral dilemmas with wit and warmth”
“This warm-hearted, funny debut is a properly indulgent page turner... Sympathetic and fun”
“[A] dazzling debut”
“This is warm and genuinely funny, opening as Faiza tries to get out of a ‘Botox party’ she can’t afford, and following her desperate attempts to keep her spending secret. Loved it”
“Warm, funny and an absolute page-turner.”
“Tackling themes of class, race and social expectation with a wicked wit and warm heart, Would I Lie to You? finds a wife and mother prepared to do almost anything to preserve the lifestyle she has painstakingly built up.”