about the book
Linda Hairston has been taught all her life that blacks and whites should be kept “separate but equal.” Her father is even one of the town’s most vocal opponents of school integration.
Then during her senior year of 1959, Jefferson High School adds a handful of black students to the school.
An honors student at her previous school, Sarah Dunbar is one of the few selected to begin the integration. She’s put in remedial classes, spit on, and tormented daily.
The two girls have a lot in common: they’re both strong-willed and smart; love singing; and are desperate to break the mold society has confined them to. When they’re paired together on a school project, will they be able to see their similarities, become friends, and maybe even fall in love? Or will the lies they tell themselves be too much to overcome?
about the author
Robin Talley grew up in Roanoke, Virginia. When she read The Baby-Sitters Club series as a kid, she loved how the fictional characters were so powerful, so real. It inspired her to be a writer because she wanted to try and make characters that are just as real.
The stories Robin writes are usually about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender characters. The idea for her debut novel, Lies We Tell Ourselves, came when she was talking to her parents about their school days in the 1950s and 60s. Brown v. Board of Education did not magically get rid of segregation in the schools. In fact, some Virginia schools were closed for years to avoid integration. Robin knew being one of the first black students at the all-white schools would have been difficult enough, but what if you were gay, too? She knew she had to write this story.
For her day job, Robin plans communication strategies for nonprofits fighting for equal rights and social justice.
Robin lives in Washington, D.C., with her wife, antisocial cat, and goofy dog.
Sources:
Author website
Author interview: Literature & Laura
Author interview: Read Wave
Also by Robin Talley:
What We Left Behind. Harlequin Teen Romance. October 2015.
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