The Truth According to Us

I typically reserve a 5 star rating for classics, but I loved this book. Told from alternating perspectives of different characters, this historical novel took place in the eastern panhandlers of West Virginia during the late 1930s. I was charmed and found it to be a page Turner.

Loved this book and loved the characters. I read it on my iPhone/Kindle app. and would read it late into the night. Author expertly develops the characters and the story. The ending was a little predictable, but really enjoyable.

Clever truths about loyalty to one's family even in the face of wrongdoing touch every character in this novel. Social acceptance is difficult to obtain when the family history is tarnished. How much of history is true? This is a remarkable book.

Despite one or two glitches in editing, the story was so superlative, I had to give it five stars. It is an interesting look at the Depression Era, love and family ties. It is difficult to put down and a fun read.

The plotting, scheming, endearing youngsters, eccentric relatives and townsfolk, the palpable oppressing heat of summer, all framed within wonderful historical settings makes this a book I could not put down. And then I re-read it to savor it again.

Loved this book. Characters were people you'd want to know, story was interesting and flowed really well. You felt transported to WV in a time before electronics became our entire social life. A really sweet, interesting, well written book.

Great Book. It started off a little slow, but about a third of the way in I really got into all the characters and story. I love the humor and wit the author uses with her characters. I had guessed the ending before I got there, but I was surprised at some things regardless.

Excellent character development against backdrop of history. I really enjoyed this book! So many parallel strikes entwined and all historically accurate. From Writers Project to Textile Unionization all played out in a small town. Explores a family with secrets.

Ms Barrows has developed a relevant theme, history is not necessarily accurate but rather the stories of a few well intentioned authors. She weaves the truth of what really happened in the past with what characters would like to believe happened. This is true not only with the town's history, but with the story of her characters. Well developed characters and plot make for a read you won't want to put down.

An interesting story with a mysterious past revealed. Story has diverse characters and is told through a precocious child. Reader is taken through a very enmeshed relationship between siblings which I felt was a little unrealistic but I enjoyed the book.

An interesting story with a mysterious past revealed. Story has diverse characters and is told through a precocious child. Reader is taken through a very enmeshed relationship between siblings which I felt was a little unrealistic but I enjoyed the book.

This was a great story that mixed the emotions that come with having/being a part of a close family. You find yourself supporting these women as they each tell their story in this book. You can totally relate as each one comes into their own.

I loved this book. Every character came alive, and I would love to have been there for the summer of their town's celebration.
Such an interesting, well-developed plot. I need to read more of this author.

Layla Beck is the spoiled daughter of a senator, living in luxury as the Great Depression drags on. When she refuses to marry a wealthy suitor, her father cuts her off and gets her a job with the WPA, which Layla sees as the ultimate humiliation. Worse, she must go to very rural Macedonia, West Virginia, where she is to write the town's history. She has no desire to be in West Virginia, much less to be living among people she feels are beneath her, and writing their history. But she must.

She ends up as a boarder at the home of the Romeyns, who were once a great family in Macedonia. Jottie and Felix's father ran the mill and was regarded with great respect. Now Jottie runs the house and raises Felix's two daughters, Willa and Bird. Assorted aunts live there on and off, and sometimes Felix lives there as well. And so do secrets. A whole lot of secrets.

Twelve-year old Willa is determined to snoop and learn the long-hidden truth. Layla is determined to prove herself and live happily ever after with Felix. And Jottie keeps on keepin' on, happiness having eluded her years ago when the secrets were carefully hidden.

What a tangled web of secrets it is. Annie Barrows, who first captured my interest with THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY has written another book full of history and character and tragedy and love and loss. Once I started reading, I desperately needed to know all the hidden secrets, too.

That being said, here are the Top Ten Things That Are Great About THE TRUTH ACCORDING TO US.

10. Annie Barrows can really write. GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY was done in the form of letters -- the epistolary style that created some of the first novels. In THE TRUTH ACCORDING TO US, she uses letters, as well, though they are inter-woven with Willa's narrative and other points of view. The voices work well with each other, creating a complex layering that is beautifully done.

9. History. As Layla write her history of the 150-year old town, she discovers that history has many faces. And woven in with that is history in the mid 30s, the Depression trudging on, the labor unions working for fair wages, Prohibition, and many of its facets.

8. The book transports you to another time and place. You feel the pace of Southern life, the conversations on the porch drinking sweating glasses of sweet tea, trying to get through the heat of summer. You experience the things kids were able to do then, running loose, throwing fruit at each other. It's literary time travel.

7. The library. When I was a kid, the library was the best place ever. You could hide out among the shelves and lose yourself in other worlds, and then haul a stack of books home, reading all the way, and escape whatever you needed to escape. That's what the library is in the book.

6. Character, character, character. There's daring dashing sneaky Felix, wise-for-her-years Willa, ever-patient, ever-longing Jottie, ever-evolving Layla. Barrows writes great characters.

5. Not only does Barrows write great characters; when they speak it sounds natural, and it sounds like they would sound.

4. The characters grow and learn and evolve and become better or reap just desserts for their deeds. There are epiphanies. No one remains stagnant.

3. The book is full of little side stories, like life. As Layla interviews various townspeople or Jottie tells her stories, we hear all sorts of intriguing little tales that don't move the story forward, but give us context and enrichment and a great deal of vicarious amusement.

2. It's a Coming of Age story that's actually interesting.

1. What really happened in the mill that night? I absolutely had to know.