The Truth and Lies of Ella Black by Emily Barr

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Truth and Lies of Ella Black by Emily Barr Karen Coats Barr, Emily The Truth and Lies of Ella Black. Philomel, 2019 [336p] Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-399-54704-1 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-399-54706-5 $10.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 8-12 Seventeen-year-old Ella struggles to hide the angry voice in her head that she calls “Bella,” short for Bad Ella. It’s Bella who forces Ella to say pointedly mean things, hurt herself, and violently kill the small animals her cat brings her. When her parents whisk her off to Rio, she finds a new cause for anger: she discovers that she was adopted and her parents are trying to hide her from her birth mother. Bella takes over and literally lashes out, assaulting a waiter with a broken bottle when her mother ducks. When Ella finds out who her birth parents are, though, she is even more devastated by the thought of a genetic inheritance of unspeakable violence. Bella becomes her partner rather than her adversary, giving her the strength to escape and to survive by teaching English. There’s also a love-at-first-sight travel romance worthy of a Stephanie Perkins novel, a less than credible stalking narrative, a convenient disappearance of criminal charges, a heartfelt tale of redemption through teaching disadvantaged kids, and a weirdly tacked-on ending suggesting an alternative source of Ella’s split personality, leaving a lot to track here, and Ella isn’t particularly sympathetic as she sorts through her newfound knowledge about her situation. The pacing in this British import works, though, taking readers on a journey from the touristy sections of Rio to an alternate picture of life in the Brazilian ghettos, so readers who like their genres mixed will get a little taste of everything here. Copyright © 2019 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois