Liar and Spy

by Rebecca Stead

This title is the winner of the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. Georges (the s is silent) has a lot going on. He's having trouble with some boys at school, his dad lost his job and so his mum has started working all the time - and they have to sell their house and move into an apartment. But moving into the apartment block does bring one good thing - Safer, an unusual boy who lives on the top floor. He runs a spy club, and is determined to teach Georges everything he knows. Their current case is to spy on the mysterious Mr X in the apartment above Georges. But as Georges and Safer go deeper into their Mr X plan, the line between games, lies, and reality begin to blur.

• ISBN10: 1849395071
• ISBN13: 9781849395076
• Publish Date: 4 October 2012 (first published 1 January 2012)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 13 April 2016
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Andersen Press Ltd
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 208
• Language: English

Reviews

[wyvernfriend]

This was a sweet story, occasionally I felt a little old for it but as the story unfolded it just caught me. I have no idea how I put it onto my wishlist or who recommended it to me, but I'm glad I found it.

The story unfolds as Georges (the S is silent as he's named after his parent's favourite Artist Georges Seurat) moves into an appartment in his neighbourhood after his father loses his job and they're dependent on his mother, a nurse, for their income. His mother is largely absent due to her hours and they leave notes in scrabble tiles for each other (which is hugely sweet).

He meets Safer, another boy in the appartment block after his dad answers a note about a spy club meeting. Safer is spying on a mysterious Mr X, at the same time Georges is dealing with bullies in school and school itself and the changes of moving from his house to an appartment.

As the story unfolds the lies aren't what you think and the twist in the tale at the end caught my breath.

It's an interesting lovely story and I would recommend it.