(3.5) They say there are only two basic plots: a stranger comes to town, or the hero sets off on a journey. Well, here’s the first of those in action. This atmospheric historical novel is set in the sweltering summer of 1938. Layla Beck, a spoiled senator’s daughter, has been sent to Macedonia, West Virginia by the WPA to document the town’s story in advance of its sesquicentennial. Her uncle pulls strings to get her the job even though he thinks his flighty niece is “exactly as fit to work on t...

I didn't expect much of this novel. I carried around a sample of it on my Kindle for over a year, and it was stuck on a very misleading page. It gave me the impression the whole book was about socialites being selfish during the depression. Not at all! There is a socialite. She is rather selfish, but she is a product of her upbringing, and when she looks around at her world she decides she is not going to play by their rules anymore. All right, they say, try another world, and her family packs h...

The Truth According to Us by Annie BarrowsIn 1938, wealthy, twenty four year old Layla Beck is punished by her father, for not marrying a man she didn't even like, and is sent to work on the Federal Writers’ Project, a New Deal jobs program. Yes, wealthy Layla, daughter of a Senator, is going to be living on relief. Layla is naive, spoiled and has never worked a day in her life. But once she starts boarding with the Romeyn family, of Macedonia, West Virginia, she gets her revenge on her father b...

4.5 stars. A tale of secrets and intertwined lives in the small, one-factory town of Macedonia, West Virginia in 1938. This historical West Virginia novel is by the co-author of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. The story is told from the alternating viewpoints of 12 year old Willa Romeyn, her 36 year old aunt Josephine (Jottie) Romeyn, and Layla Beck, a young woman from a wealthy and prominent family who is boarding with Jottie for the summer while she writes a history of the

This book could have used serious editing--as in cutting at least 150 pages--and more diligent focus on characters, narrative and plot. As you’ll note from the description, the author was partly responsible for The Guernsey Literary Society, a book that simply oozed with charm and lovable characters, and I am left to wonder how much input this author had in that book’s success. How many ways did this story disappoint?1. Length. It took over 250 pages before anything really happened. I think half...

This book is so very much about time and place , that this small town called Macedonia in West Virginia in 1938 , is almost another character . Such a clear sense of place is depicted ! With descriptions like this you can't help but see it :"Bird and I trudged along Academy Street in silence . I suppose if you'd never seen them before, all the houses on our street looked the same, big and white - brick. If you gazed through the polished lens of experience, though , each one was different. You co...

I really only read this book because I knew the author co wrote The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society but I am very glad I did read it because it is good. I fell in love with many of the characters especially Willa and Jottie and in the end I sat and read way past my bed time because I had to find out what happened to everyone. The ending turned out to be realistic rather than happy ever after but that was okay. This is one of those books which sucks you in with perfect descriptions

I thought I should revise this review since I wrote it nearly three years ago, when all I could think of to write, at the time, was just how much I loved it. So, yes, I loved this book. I loved the story. I loved the characters. I loved the wit and humor, and I loved the audio/readers. I also love epistolary novels and much of the story is revealed in letters. Listening to this book was like being dropped right into anytown, in nowheresville, America smack in the midst of the depression, and I c...

Somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars. Annie Barrows wrote the Ivy and Bean books which I read over and over with my daughter when she was younger. And reading The Truth About Us was like reading a version of Ivy and Bean for adults -- which is mostly a positive thing. Barrows tells an excellent story -- a good yarn! Told from the perspective of Leila, Willa and Jottie, the story takes place in 1938 in Macedonia, a small town in West Virginia. Leila comes to Macedonia from Washington to write a hist...

What can I say? This books starts out with it being the summer of 1938.....and boy, did I feel like I was there in thick of that sweltering heat. That's what I loved most about this book: it made me me feel like I was in West Virginia. I could see everyone so plainly. I saw everyone sitting out on their porches, drinking their iced tea, and stopping by saying hello. All the characters were right there in my sight: Jottie, Layla, Willa & Bird, Minerva & Mae....all the secondary characters, they w...

As the title suggests, the characters in this book are delving into secrets to find out the truth--and there may be more than one truth. The narrator is twelve-year-old Willa Romeyn, a likable, precocious girl in the small West Virginian town of Macedonia. She has been eavesdropping on conversations, and sneaking around trying to find out the truth about her father Felix's occupation, family secrets, and life in general.Another truth-seeker is Layla, a young woman boarding with the Romeyns who i...

3.5 stars. A charming and quaint story with memorable characters set during the depression.It's a dripping hot summer in 1938 and Layla Beck is being punished by her father, a Senator, for not agreeing to marry the boring chap he has chosen for her. The punishment is a job with the WPA writing a history of a small Virginia town, celebrating its sesquicentenial. This lands Layla in a prominent household of the communty as a boarder, and soon she has set the family on its ear, striking up a relati...

This was well on its way to being a 5-star review - right up until the very end. I loved the way Annie Barrows described the fictional town of Macedonia, West Virginia. She made me feel like I was living in Small Town, USA during 1938. The story was told from the perspective of three females - Layla Beck, the daughter of a senator who was sent to Macedonia to write its history after she refused to marry the man of her father's choosing; Jottie Romeyn, the owner of the home where Layla boarded wh...

I love books that take place in small towns, and with Layla being somewhat banished there to write the history of Macedonia. WV, lots of secrets come to light. Layla was a spoiled rich girl and she is quite unhappy when her father forces here to join the Federal Writers Project and she has to live with a family much different than what she is used to. It is a learning experience for all involved. What made this story unique was the exploration of the small town dynamics of course but also I lear...

How can I even begin to describe how much I enjoyed reading this book? The Truth According to Us by Annie Barrows unravels the secrets of a small Depression-era West Virginia town through the eyes of 12 year old Willa and Layla, a young woman assigned by Roosevelt's Writer Project to research and write the history of town in time for its 150th birthday.Though the book mainly focuses on one family in particular, readers are introduced to many citizens of Macedonia, all with the quirks, agendas, a...

Sweltering West Virginia Summer 1938I would have passed this by if it hadn’t been for Tamar's enthusiastic recommendation. I’m thankful because I really loved this book for so many reasons.Based on the premise, I had the impression that the book centered around Layla and her government sponsored position for the Writers Project. She’s the spark starting the fire, but she’s one of three narrators, with the others being Willa, a rapidly maturing twelve year old, and her caregiver aunt Jottie. With...