A Pack of Liars

by Anne Fine

Laura finds herself in correspondence with a boring girl called Miranda. She decides to liven things up by pretending to be Lady Melody from a noble family, but then she discovers that Miranda is really a professional thief who steals from the rich to give to the poor - a modern Robin Hood.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Though readers often find themselves inadvertently laughing aloud as they read Anne Fine's novels, as she herself admits, "a lot of my work, even for fairly young readers, raises serious social issues. Growing up is a long and confusing business. I try to show that the battle through the chaos is worthwhile and can, at times, be seen as very funny." In 1994, this unique combination of humour and realism inspired the hit movie MRS. DOUBTFIRE, based on Anne's novel MADAME DOUBTFIRE and starring the late comedic genius Robin Williams.

Anne is best known in her home country, England, as a writer principally for children, but over the years she has also written eight novels for adult readers. Seven of these she describes as black - or sour - comedies, and the first, THE KILLJOY, simply as "dead black". These novels have proved great favourites with reading groups, causing readers to squirm with mingled horror and delight as she peels away the layers in all too familiar family relationships, exposing the tangled threads and conflicts beneath. (It's perhaps not surprising that Anne has openly expressed astonishment at the fact that murder in the domestic setting is not even more common.)

Anne has written more than sixty books for children and young people. Amongst numerous other awards, she is twice winner of both the Carnegie Medal, Britain's most prestigious children's book award, and the Whitbread Award. Twice chosen as Children's Author of the Year in the British Book Awards, Anne Fine was also the first novelist to be honoured as Children's Laureate in the United Kingdom. In 2003, Anne became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was awarded an OBE. Her work has been translated into forty five languages.

Anne Fine lives in the north of England and has two grown up daughters.

Reviews

[Sarap · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the class receive letters from their new pen pals, Laura realises just how tedious this new relationship will be. She swaps her initial letter from her pen pal with another person in the class but realises it's the same sort of letter she read initially. Thinking someting fishy is going, Miranda reads another letter which also sounds very similar. Although she thinks something fishy is going on, Laura decides to write back and to make things more exciting she takes on the identity of an imaginary Lady Melody Estelle Priscilla Hermione Irwin.

The story develops as Laura realsises something is definitely not right about her pen pal and decides to investigate further.

This book is quite an exciting book and allows the reader to have the opportunity to guess what will happen next. This book also highlights ths importance of children needing to be vigilant when communicating with people they've never met before.

This book can probably be read by children in KS2 years 4-6.

[The Jesus Fandom · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

One of my faves from back then. I like how Anne Fine isn’t afraid to tackle relatively complex moral issues. It does mean that, for example, at the end when they choose to not tell the pen pal that Laura is not, in fact, Lady Melody it kind of rubs me the wrong way. Not that the pen pal really believed that… no way. That is a grown man; you can’t convince me he didn’t realise those letters were wayy over the top.

But yeah, it’s a book I remember well from when I was younger because of how interesting and creative the plot was.

[Phoebe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oliver boot was an icon when I first read this book ten years ago, and he’s still an icon today

[Maxi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sehr kurzweiliges Buch. Leider bereits sehr früh ist die Story ziemlich vorhersehbar, trotzdem nett für zwischendurch.

[Jamie]

gutess buch gute app

[Robert Collins · Rating 1 out of 5]

Laura, also known as Lady Melody, makes a new pen pal who seems a little strange. Not only is Laura’s pen pal a little odd but most of Laura’s class have similar thoughts about their own pen pals. Is everyone in the town of Stickelburry mad? Is there more to Laura’s pen pal than meets the eye?

In all honesty, I found this book a little dry. I did not enjoy reading any part of the story and the characters were not likable. I certainly don’t like having to give a poor review but I really thought that this story was quite dull! I think that most children would find this book a disappointing read.

[Flan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is clearly a children's read. Its a kind of moral story, but a moral story that doesnt really make the moral obvious.. Is that normal for a book you ask? I dont know. It was nice but it definitely took some time to read.. It wasn't exactly page-turning but nonetheless I still read it. I'd recommend this sort of book for younger children who are still rookie readers.

[May Lin]

this book is ok. you've got to be very careful to find a penpal naw!!!!!

[Candycloud · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool ending, but took ages to get into the flow of the story. Some parts bored me.

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was a child, I had this book on audiobook and I listened to it more times that I can count. It's such a fun weird story. I highly recommend this for any young readers!

[Alice]

children's,teen,YA