The Care and Management of Lies

Morale. I opened Jazqueline Winspear’s novel, The Care and Management of Lies, with skepticism. Having just completed Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See, I wasn’t sure that I had the appetite for another novel set during World War I. Winspear hooked me at once: the simplicity of her story brought with it tremendous power as she explores the nature of love and duty. Protagonist Kezia Marchant has left the city that was familiar to her, and has barely settled into life as a farm wife when her husband, Tom, enlists in the army. Winspear captures the scope of love and duty through the way she used the device of Kezia’s morale-building letters to Tom that described the delicious meals that she was making with love for him. Tom’s whole unit wanted him to read her letters aloud to them. With a handful of characters and finely written prose, Winspear offers readers a memorable and touching story. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase The Care and Management of Lies from amazon.com.