A Time to Tell Lies

In the morning of Tuesday November 10, 1942, near a small village in SW France, the scheduled pickup for a Special Operations Executive agent goes terribly wrong. Alex and Justine, agents with a life expectancy measured in weeks, find themselves entangled in a desperate project they never fully understand. They are also lovers. Trained to lie to their wartime masters and to the enemy, they must contemplate lying to each other. A Time to Tell Lies, Alan Kennedy's fifth novel, continues the story begun in Lucy, described by Deborah Swallow, Mrit Rausing Director, Courtauld Institute of Art, as: "A haunting and captivating love story ... a skilfully articulated plot which holds the reader from start to finish. At its heart is the exploration of the young artist's creative imagination as she struggles to come to terms with the banal horrors of war and her own engulfing emotions."