The Brief Lives of Ella Jenner

At the age of six Ella sees her mother push her father down the stairs. As the police arrive, her mother murmurs Tell the truth now Ella, and Ella does just that. And so her mother is locked away and Ella sent to stay with her Aunts. It's an early lesson in where the truth gets you. Ella has never told the truth since. As she grows, the lies just get larger, leaving a victim trail behind her. She 'becomes' an invalid, a doctor, a teacher, even a nun. The trouble is, every time she tells a lie, a little bit of it becomes the truth - never more so than when finally she pretends she's dying. Ella has to find a way to peel away her many selves before it's too late and there's no Ella left to lie. Penelope Evans is author of The Last Girl as featured on BBC book at bedtime and read by Warren Mitchell. Described by Ruth Rendell as "a remarkable first novel with qualities seldom found a strong story, characters that are alive from the first page, and brilliant authorial control over the narrative". Evans' eighth novel shows the same control as her first.