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Liar's Dice
An astonishing debut about a teenage girl in 1970s Brazil who is torn away from her twin sister—and who must learn what it means to fight for those she loves when all the odds are stacked against her.
Dolores and Mita grow up in rural Brazil, identical and inseparable. But Mita develops a mysterious illness that challenges the family. One day, Dolores wakes up to find her sister gone—sent to a hospital in their father’s native London. There is no Dolores without Mita. And now Mita is gone.
When the family moves to Rio, Dolores’ parents act as if Mita never existed. Lonely and grief-stricken, Dolores struggles to learn to read and write at the stodgy British School—until she meets Andrea, a headstrong, streetwise girl from the dangerous part of town. Andrea shows Dolores a new side of Rio—and how to survive it. As the dictatorship cracks down on dissenters, and people disappear, Dolores begins to wonder if her sister is dead, and her parents are lying. Determined to uncover the truth, Dolores is willing to do whatever it takes—lie, gamble and steal—to get her sister back.
Liar’s Dice captures the precarious intensity of coming of age in a volatile time—when repression and silence are the fabric of everyday life—and the cost of family secrets. Heartrending and tender, Juliet Faithfull’s debut novel is a testament to the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood.
Dolores and Mita grow up in rural Brazil, identical and inseparable. But Mita develops a mysterious illness that challenges the family. One day, Dolores wakes up to find her sister gone—sent to a hospital in their father’s native London. There is no Dolores without Mita. And now Mita is gone.
When the family moves to Rio, Dolores’ parents act as if Mita never existed. Lonely and grief-stricken, Dolores struggles to learn to read and write at the stodgy British School—until she meets Andrea, a headstrong, streetwise girl from the dangerous part of town. Andrea shows Dolores a new side of Rio—and how to survive it. As the dictatorship cracks down on dissenters, and people disappear, Dolores begins to wonder if her sister is dead, and her parents are lying. Determined to uncover the truth, Dolores is willing to do whatever it takes—lie, gamble and steal—to get her sister back.
Liar’s Dice captures the precarious intensity of coming of age in a volatile time—when repression and silence are the fabric of everyday life—and the cost of family secrets. Heartrending and tender, Juliet Faithfull’s debut novel is a testament to the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood.
372 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 28, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 311 reviews
June 10, 2026
there is nobody like a sister
(thanks to the publisher for the arc)
(review to come)
(thanks to the publisher for the arc)
(review to come)
April 13, 2026
I loved this debut novel!
I went in blind, not knowing anything about it, really.
It’s a debut, coming of age story.
It’s about a family of four, the parents and twins Dolores and Mita…who live in Rio de Janeiro.
As they grow they see that Mita has some severe problems .. has these fits that cause damage to her body and brain… think, cerebral palsy. She must go to stay at a hospital in England where the father is from.
This story is about the close relationship to a twin and then having to deal with the separation of living without her and not really knowing what is happening to her.
We also see life in a dictatorship and meet some colorful characters.
It’s a very moving story.
After reading this I researched the author…who does have a disabled twin who actually died on the day this book was sold to the publisher😭
This is a new book under Jenna Bush Hagar imprint company.
Available April 28th
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review!
I went in blind, not knowing anything about it, really.
It’s a debut, coming of age story.
It’s about a family of four, the parents and twins Dolores and Mita…who live in Rio de Janeiro.
As they grow they see that Mita has some severe problems .. has these fits that cause damage to her body and brain… think, cerebral palsy. She must go to stay at a hospital in England where the father is from.
This story is about the close relationship to a twin and then having to deal with the separation of living without her and not really knowing what is happening to her.
We also see life in a dictatorship and meet some colorful characters.
It’s a very moving story.
After reading this I researched the author…who does have a disabled twin who actually died on the day this book was sold to the publisher😭
This is a new book under Jenna Bush Hagar imprint company.
Available April 28th
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review!
May 18, 2026
firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc!
liar's dice follows a teenage girl in 1970s Brazil who is unexpectedly torn away from her disabled twin sister—and who must fight against the odds to reunite with her...
this was a beautiful story following the relationship of dolores and her twin sister mita, and how dolores strives against all odds to reunite with her beloved twin. not one moment in this novel passed where dolores was not thinking of her twin, or working hard to reach her. dolores struggled with english, but persevered through the bullying of her classmates to learn how to read and write just to send letters to mita. i hope for everyone to have a sibling that loves them just as much as dolores loves mita. 💓
not only is this a story about sisterly love, but also a fantastic historical fiction novel that touches upon brazil’s cultural and societal history.
the narrator was phenomenal. i wish every narrator was as lively and full of emotion as gisela chípe!
liar's dice follows a teenage girl in 1970s Brazil who is unexpectedly torn away from her disabled twin sister—and who must fight against the odds to reunite with her...
this was a beautiful story following the relationship of dolores and her twin sister mita, and how dolores strives against all odds to reunite with her beloved twin. not one moment in this novel passed where dolores was not thinking of her twin, or working hard to reach her. dolores struggled with english, but persevered through the bullying of her classmates to learn how to read and write just to send letters to mita. i hope for everyone to have a sibling that loves them just as much as dolores loves mita. 💓
not only is this a story about sisterly love, but also a fantastic historical fiction novel that touches upon brazil’s cultural and societal history.
the narrator was phenomenal. i wish every narrator was as lively and full of emotion as gisela chípe!
June 26, 2026
Liar's Dice is set in 1970s Brazil and follows a young girl, Dolores, after her twin sister, Mita, gets sent overseas to a hospital in London due to a medical condition.
When the girls were young, it was discovered that Mita had a degenerative health condition that Dolores did not have. By the time the girls were around 8-years old, her condition had progressed so much that their parents didn't feel they could care for her safely any longer.
Whether that's true or not, it's what they believed. They also believed the hospitals in Brazil weren't acceptable for Mita. Therefore, it was their belief that London, where he was originally from, would be the best choice.
As you can imagine, this is a difficult decision for any family, but for Dolores, it was incomprehensible. Mita belonged with them, with her. When Mita left, Dolores felt like half her heart was gone. She could think of little else.
A lot of this book explores Dolores's reaction to Mita being gone. She cannot understand her parent's decision and there's a lot of tension in the family because of the choices that have been made.
This is a true Coming of Age story. We do get the entire story from Dolores's perspective, and she's relaying it to us in the voice of a child/tween.
This doesn't affect it's depth, however, as the topics explored are deep and emotional. I did appreciate how realistic Dolores's narrative voice felt. I feel like Faithfull did an incredible job with that.
Let me be clear, I am not a Historical Fiction girlie. This book is very much outside of my comfort zone. I picked it up only after the publisher emailed me about it and brought it to my attention. I don't think it ever would have been on my radar if they hadn't done that.
After reading this synopsis, I was definitely intrigued. I do love Coming of Age Horror, and this is a Coming of Age story, though very far from Horror. It still captured that nostalgic Coming of Age feel that I enjoy losing myself in, and I also loved the Brazilian setting. It was refreshing.
The MC, Dolores, was empathetic to follow. Their family went through so much over the course of the book. I'll admit certain scenes definitely made me emotional. I'm glad I picked this one up, comfort zone or not.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Random House, for bringing this novel to my attention, and for providing me with a copy to read and review. This is a beautiful debut, and I would absolutely pick up more from this author.
I would definitely recommend this to my Historical Fiction friends, but I would also recommend it to people like me, who may not pick up a lot of the genre, but find the subject matter interesting. It really is a powerful story.
When the girls were young, it was discovered that Mita had a degenerative health condition that Dolores did not have. By the time the girls were around 8-years old, her condition had progressed so much that their parents didn't feel they could care for her safely any longer.
Whether that's true or not, it's what they believed. They also believed the hospitals in Brazil weren't acceptable for Mita. Therefore, it was their belief that London, where he was originally from, would be the best choice.
As you can imagine, this is a difficult decision for any family, but for Dolores, it was incomprehensible. Mita belonged with them, with her. When Mita left, Dolores felt like half her heart was gone. She could think of little else.
A lot of this book explores Dolores's reaction to Mita being gone. She cannot understand her parent's decision and there's a lot of tension in the family because of the choices that have been made.
This is a true Coming of Age story. We do get the entire story from Dolores's perspective, and she's relaying it to us in the voice of a child/tween.
This doesn't affect it's depth, however, as the topics explored are deep and emotional. I did appreciate how realistic Dolores's narrative voice felt. I feel like Faithfull did an incredible job with that.
Let me be clear, I am not a Historical Fiction girlie. This book is very much outside of my comfort zone. I picked it up only after the publisher emailed me about it and brought it to my attention. I don't think it ever would have been on my radar if they hadn't done that.
After reading this synopsis, I was definitely intrigued. I do love Coming of Age Horror, and this is a Coming of Age story, though very far from Horror. It still captured that nostalgic Coming of Age feel that I enjoy losing myself in, and I also loved the Brazilian setting. It was refreshing.
The MC, Dolores, was empathetic to follow. Their family went through so much over the course of the book. I'll admit certain scenes definitely made me emotional. I'm glad I picked this one up, comfort zone or not.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Random House, for bringing this novel to my attention, and for providing me with a copy to read and review. This is a beautiful debut, and I would absolutely pick up more from this author.
I would definitely recommend this to my Historical Fiction friends, but I would also recommend it to people like me, who may not pick up a lot of the genre, but find the subject matter interesting. It really is a powerful story.
June 22, 2026
It took me a few chapters to really get into this book, I'll confess. But once I did, I couldn't get enough of it, and when it finished I cried harrrrrd.
Coincidentally, before reading this I had just finished Taipei Story, which is also a book written in English but constantly “interrupted” with another language, and in my review I mentioned how the book was probably a more fluid experience for those who spoke Chinese; and now I am even more sure of my assumption, because it is the case here: Liar's Dice is even more interwoven by Portuguese, and its atmosphere creation is even more dependent on this weaving. The book exudes a “brazilianness” that is uncanny due to its foreign representation, but all the while in the book I was like yeah I know these people, yeah I know these places, yeah we really are like that. The dictatorship setting is, of course, like our kryptonite: I am a vocal defender of how we should rethink our constant reliance on this period for our fiction, but at the same time I subscribe immediately to the deep and wounded drama it invokes, I am immediately transported to the tension even though I wasn't there, not even close to being born by the time it was “over”. (I always tell foreigners that we treat the military dictatorship era like Americans treat 9/11, except ours lasted three decades.)
I was also personally invested in this story due to the protagonists being twins, since my younger sisters are twins, so it was easy to relate it to my experience growing up around them. I can't imagine them being apart, let alone separated by something that ultimately transformed them, to the point where they were “different”. It was heartbreaking, especially since there is just no way around it, no solution.
I am particularly obsessed with the Sofia/Eduardo plotline, I could honestly read a book just on them. Andrea irritated me a little but I still loved her. I thought Mr. P was really adorable. The main weak points in this book is that it is not easy to discern when people are speaking English or speaking Portuguese-but-written-in-English, and that character descriptions are really vague and sparse, so it was sometimes easier to picture the environment they were in but not the people themselves—I ended up matching most characters with people I know irl who matched their personalities. But seriously, I refuse to complain about anything because I am just so in love with Eduardo and Sofia. Please, can I get a book on just them, thank you. ˚ ༘♡ ·˚ ₊˚ˑ༄ؘ
Coincidentally, before reading this I had just finished Taipei Story, which is also a book written in English but constantly “interrupted” with another language, and in my review I mentioned how the book was probably a more fluid experience for those who spoke Chinese; and now I am even more sure of my assumption, because it is the case here: Liar's Dice is even more interwoven by Portuguese, and its atmosphere creation is even more dependent on this weaving. The book exudes a “brazilianness” that is uncanny due to its foreign representation, but all the while in the book I was like yeah I know these people, yeah I know these places, yeah we really are like that. The dictatorship setting is, of course, like our kryptonite: I am a vocal defender of how we should rethink our constant reliance on this period for our fiction, but at the same time I subscribe immediately to the deep and wounded drama it invokes, I am immediately transported to the tension even though I wasn't there, not even close to being born by the time it was “over”. (I always tell foreigners that we treat the military dictatorship era like Americans treat 9/11, except ours lasted three decades.)
I was also personally invested in this story due to the protagonists being twins, since my younger sisters are twins, so it was easy to relate it to my experience growing up around them. I can't imagine them being apart, let alone separated by something that ultimately transformed them, to the point where they were “different”. It was heartbreaking, especially since there is just no way around it, no solution.
I am particularly obsessed with the Sofia/Eduardo plotline, I could honestly read a book just on them. Andrea irritated me a little but I still loved her. I thought Mr. P was really adorable. The main weak points in this book is that it is not easy to discern when people are speaking English or speaking Portuguese-but-written-in-English, and that character descriptions are really vague and sparse, so it was sometimes easier to picture the environment they were in but not the people themselves—I ended up matching most characters with people I know irl who matched their personalities. But seriously, I refuse to complain about anything because I am just so in love with Eduardo and Sofia. Please, can I get a book on just them, thank you. ˚ ༘♡ ·˚ ₊˚ˑ༄ؘ
October 28, 2025
Thank you to Random House for providing this ARC for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Liar’s Dice by Juliet Faithfull is a story of a young girl in 1970s Brazil. Dolores, an identical twin, has a life in flux; she’s moved from a bucolic interior town to Rio, and her sister Mita had been committed to an institution an ocean away. This coming of age story follows Dolores as she desperately attempts to reconnect in any way with her missing sister and to acclimate to a new life.
The book manages in a short while yo explore a lot of really deep themes without feeling as if it has abandoned plot. The book centrally discusses feelings of loss and separation for family, childhood feelings of responsibility, and the way that there are often very few satisfying outcomes in disability care. The story also mentions the ideas of secrets, hidden feelings, and keeping up appearances. In all, I thought the author was very artful in blending purposeful themes and motifs with a naturalistic narrative.
I really loved the character of Dolores and felt like she was very well written. She’s loyal and stubborn, even to her own detriment. She’s very smart, even if her education trails behind her ability. She can be very understanding and forgiving of others, but has trouble understanding her own parents. I thought that she was particularly layered and also that she was relatively realistic. She’s twelve or thirteen during most of the book, and while she’s exposed to some adult situations, she often shows a naïveté and immaturity that states with the given age.
Faithfull does a great job of crafting a story that is heartbreaking but not maudlin. The characters are imperfect but relatable all at the same time. I would characterize the story as very tender, treating even less likable characters with moment of sensitivity. In literature it’s easy to attribute characters as “good” or “bad,” especially if they’re minor characters. Faithfull really artfully crafts a cast or characters with layers and shades of sympathy.
I really, really enjoyed this title. As a debut novel, Faithfull has showed off some impressive ability to navigate the literary fiction sphere. I personally will look forward to a second novel in the future. A 5/5 selection for me.
Liar’s Dice by Juliet Faithfull is a story of a young girl in 1970s Brazil. Dolores, an identical twin, has a life in flux; she’s moved from a bucolic interior town to Rio, and her sister Mita had been committed to an institution an ocean away. This coming of age story follows Dolores as she desperately attempts to reconnect in any way with her missing sister and to acclimate to a new life.
The book manages in a short while yo explore a lot of really deep themes without feeling as if it has abandoned plot. The book centrally discusses feelings of loss and separation for family, childhood feelings of responsibility, and the way that there are often very few satisfying outcomes in disability care. The story also mentions the ideas of secrets, hidden feelings, and keeping up appearances. In all, I thought the author was very artful in blending purposeful themes and motifs with a naturalistic narrative.
I really loved the character of Dolores and felt like she was very well written. She’s loyal and stubborn, even to her own detriment. She’s very smart, even if her education trails behind her ability. She can be very understanding and forgiving of others, but has trouble understanding her own parents. I thought that she was particularly layered and also that she was relatively realistic. She’s twelve or thirteen during most of the book, and while she’s exposed to some adult situations, she often shows a naïveté and immaturity that states with the given age.
Faithfull does a great job of crafting a story that is heartbreaking but not maudlin. The characters are imperfect but relatable all at the same time. I would characterize the story as very tender, treating even less likable characters with moment of sensitivity. In literature it’s easy to attribute characters as “good” or “bad,” especially if they’re minor characters. Faithfull really artfully crafts a cast or characters with layers and shades of sympathy.
I really, really enjoyed this title. As a debut novel, Faithfull has showed off some impressive ability to navigate the literary fiction sphere. I personally will look forward to a second novel in the future. A 5/5 selection for me.
June 2, 2026
Dolores and Mita are identical twins. Dolores shares everything with her twin. Yet, sadly Mita suffers from a degenerative disease. She has Cerebral Palsy, Seizures, is Cognitively Slow, and is often Hospitalized. Her parents and the twins live in a small town in Brazil that Dolores loves and feels safe.
Yet, when the girls are going through adolescence, the family moves to Rio without Mita. Mita is at a hospital in London. Dolores is placed in a girls school in Rio, which she doesn’t like at all. She desperately misses Mita. Her parents don’t talk about Mita though and she is not even sure she is alive.
Dolores does find one true friend, Andrea, and learns to be brave and stand up for herself. There is repression and secrets both in her house and outside as the Brazilian Authoritative Government is also repressive, hurts people who are different, and many disappear. Dolores struggles to make sense of all this as she is just turning 13. She decides she must find out how Mita is doing.
This book I found very moving and you come to understand all that young Dolores is going through. I’d recommended it to anyone who enjoys family struggles, especially those about sisters, and learning about surviving both family and life in 1970’s Brazil.
This is strong debut novel by Juliet Faithful.
Thank you NetGalley and Random House for a Copy of this book. I leave reviews for all books I read.
Yet, when the girls are going through adolescence, the family moves to Rio without Mita. Mita is at a hospital in London. Dolores is placed in a girls school in Rio, which she doesn’t like at all. She desperately misses Mita. Her parents don’t talk about Mita though and she is not even sure she is alive.
Dolores does find one true friend, Andrea, and learns to be brave and stand up for herself. There is repression and secrets both in her house and outside as the Brazilian Authoritative Government is also repressive, hurts people who are different, and many disappear. Dolores struggles to make sense of all this as she is just turning 13. She decides she must find out how Mita is doing.
This book I found very moving and you come to understand all that young Dolores is going through. I’d recommended it to anyone who enjoys family struggles, especially those about sisters, and learning about surviving both family and life in 1970’s Brazil.
This is strong debut novel by Juliet Faithful.
Thank you NetGalley and Random House for a Copy of this book. I leave reviews for all books I read.
March 13, 2026
I picked up Liar’s Dice right after returning from a trip to Brazil, and it turned out to be the perfect book to stay immersed in the setting a little longer. Set between rural Brazil and Rio de Janeiro during a politically volatile time, this novel blends historical tension with an intimate story about sisterhood, identity, and family secrets.
The story follows Dolores and her identical twin sister, Mita, who grow up inseparable in rural Brazil. When Mita develops a mysterious illness and is suddenly sent to London for treatment, Dolores is left behind in confusion and grief. What makes the situation even more unsettling is that once the family relocates to Rio, her parents begin acting as if Mita never existed at all. The emotional weight of Dolores navigating life without her twin while questioning whether she is being lied to creates a haunting and compelling narrative.
Dolores’ friendship with Andrea introduces her to a very different side of Rio, one shaped by danger, rebellion, and the realities of living under a dictatorship where people disappear and silence becomes survival. As Dolores grows older, her determination to uncover the truth about her sister drives her to take risks she never imagined.
This novel is beautifully written, atmospheric, and emotionally powerful. The Brazilian setting feels vivid and alive, and the story captures both the beauty and the tension of the era. At its heart, Liar’s Dice is a moving exploration of grief, resilience, and the unbreakable bond between sisters.
A powerful debut and an easy 5-star read for me.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.
The story follows Dolores and her identical twin sister, Mita, who grow up inseparable in rural Brazil. When Mita develops a mysterious illness and is suddenly sent to London for treatment, Dolores is left behind in confusion and grief. What makes the situation even more unsettling is that once the family relocates to Rio, her parents begin acting as if Mita never existed at all. The emotional weight of Dolores navigating life without her twin while questioning whether she is being lied to creates a haunting and compelling narrative.
Dolores’ friendship with Andrea introduces her to a very different side of Rio, one shaped by danger, rebellion, and the realities of living under a dictatorship where people disappear and silence becomes survival. As Dolores grows older, her determination to uncover the truth about her sister drives her to take risks she never imagined.
This novel is beautifully written, atmospheric, and emotionally powerful. The Brazilian setting feels vivid and alive, and the story captures both the beauty and the tension of the era. At its heart, Liar’s Dice is a moving exploration of grief, resilience, and the unbreakable bond between sisters.
A powerful debut and an easy 5-star read for me.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This is a beautiful story of a young adolescent girl, Dolores, growing up in Brazil in the early 70s. She is an identical twin and her sister, Mita, suffers from cerebral palsy. Her mother, who is Brazilian, is overwhelmed and her father, who is English, is failing to cope. Her parents fail to understand the grief she is feeling (she is the "lucky" one) and do all the wrong things, though without ill intent. Dolores, feeling abandoned and guilty about her sister, finds another family and learns how to cope using her own talents and skills, including those she learned from her father's gambling. Early 70s Brazil is beautifully and unflinchingly depicted, with the rise of the dictatorship and the normalization of police torture and the minefields created by the early sexualization of girls and machismo culture. But the beauty of the country and the yearnings of its people are also well-depicted (her letter writing job was so fantastic). Dolores really fights to experience her own grief in her own way. I loved this story.
May 26, 2026
"The normal things that happen to twelve-year-old girls aren't happening to me."
Set circa 1972 in Brazil, Liar’s Dice follows 12-year-old Dolores, who doesn’t understand why her parents sent her sickly identical twin, Margarita (Mita), away to the UK and are acting like Dolores is an only child. Refusing to forget about her sister (and convinced that her parents are lying about Mita being still alive), Dolores does whatever she can to find and reconnect with Mita, including learning how to read and write so that she can send Mita aerograms and trying to scrounge up enough money to fly to Mita.
"It is up to me. Mummy and Daddy don't care about Mita anymore. If she is dead, they won't tell me. They'd want to avoid a scene."
This was a coming-of-age novel that covers themes of repression and sisterhood. There were many aspects of the story that I found interesting, including Dolores’ experience at the British School, learning how to read, feeling more Brazilian than British (she’s half-half), the parents’ choice to keep Dolores out of the loop on matters related to Mita. Though the story is told from Dolores’ POV, we learn to empathize with the parents as Mita slowly discovers the truth behind their choices and behaviour.
Because of Dolores’ child-like POV and simplistic writing, the books read like a middle grade or YA novel (but also touches upon more mature subject matters like political dissent, sexual and physical abuse, prostitution, and abuse and discrimination towards transgender women). The political situation that was included in the book didn’t really add to the story – I think this book could have fully been a YA or middle grade family drama if those subject matters were omitted or more clearly fleshed out and incorporated into the main storyline.
For an adult novel, this book lacked depth. I think I would have much preferred if a portion of the novel was also told from Dolores’ POV as an adult.
*All quotes are taken from an Advanced Readers Copy and may change prior to the release of the final copy.*
**I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley for review consideration, but all opinions are my own.**
October 20, 2025
Heartbreaking and heartwarming read. Twin sisters born prematurely. One healthy (Dolores) the other frail, weakened with cerebral palsy and episodes of epilepsy (Mita). They grow as healthy children until around age 8 when Mita develops uncontrollable seizures that leave her impaired. All is tried but conditions worsen for Mita until she needs permanent placement for care. The family moves to Rio de Janerio for father’s job. Have your hanky ready for the fallout and healing. Good read. I was given an advanced reader copy of this book by NetGalley and I am freely sharing my review. #netgalley @netgalley #julietfaithfull @julietfaithfull #randomhousepublisher @randomhousepublisher
May 7, 2026
Once again, I entered a Goodreads Giveaway for a “literary” book, only to win it and find that it’s only “literary” in that it is not a genre book.
Don’t get me wrong: I found Liar’s Dice an entertaining read, but if it’s literary, it’s literary YA. After all, the protagonist is twelve years old. The book might seem a bit sophisticated for younger readers, since it’s set in Brazil in 1972 and sprinkled with a lot of Portuguese. I can understand that a gun-shy publisher might well fear book bans, since the novel includes a sympathetic transgender character, some sexual content, gambling, and quite a bit of alcohol use, including by youthful characters. But guess what? These days, plenty of YA books contain sex and drugs, and I think I can predict that, even if it’s not identified as YA, this novel is going to find its way onto the PEN and ALA lists of banned and challenged books, ANYway. That’s the world we live in. Juliet Faithfull, the author, seems to nod to that fact herself, as her novel includes a bookstore with a back room containing books forbidden by the government that tortures and “disappears” dissidents and other “undesirables” like trans people.
The book is YA because the emotional sophistication of Dolores Hamilton, the narrator-protagonist, matches her age. Appropriately, there’s dramatic irony, but no more so than in, say, the Harry Potter books, where a minimally astute young reader can recognize blind spots that the point of view character misses. The book lacks the adult sophistication of style or the retrospective analysis that one would expect of a literary book for adults.
But, okay, if I read the book as a young adult book, it’s a good story. The premise is that Dolores has recently moved to Rio de Janeiro with her parents, but, importantly, without her identical twin sister Marguerite (“Mita”), who has, we gradually learn, cerebral palsy and has suffered a series of severe seizures that have damaged her mentally and physically. Dolores fears that Mita is dead, because their parents refuse to provide information about her whereabouts. We follow the stages of Mita’s decline in chapters set in the past, beginning when the girls were eight, and the family lived in a village in Brazil’s “interior.” Oddly, the girls had no formal schooling, and because the mother is illiterate, they also got no home schooling, so Dolores shows up at the “English school” in Rio unable to read or write, and is accordingly treated by the other students as a “dunce.” While this seems a bit implausible, since the father is a successful business man and a bit of a snob, it means we get some effective scenes of Dolores learning the alphabet from a sympathetic teacher and then to read and write, her motivation being that she wants to be able to write letters to Mita: “All along, I’ve been thinking letters to Mita inside my head; now I can write them into words and sentences, and I feel a huge gladness inside of me, like a balloon in my lungs that might explode with happiness.” Another angle is that Dolores is one of only a small number of Brazilian students at her school, and she is befriended by one of the others, Andrea, the spunky daughter of a former school employee who is now surviving at least partly through prostitution. Through Andrea, Dolores is exposed to Rio’s impoverished and frequently dangerous underside.
I was fully persuaded and engaged by Dolores’s grief at being separated from her twin, especially in the face of the world’s most obtuse parents—they’re less plausible, as is a scene where people are canoeing upstream during a violent flood (having lived through Hurricane Helene, I REALLY don’t think so). But that one is a minor quibble. The generally straightforward style and constant events make for a very fast-paced, readable book. Just NOT a literary one.
But thank you to Penguin Random House for the ARC. Please consider marketing more accurately in the future.
Don’t get me wrong: I found Liar’s Dice an entertaining read, but if it’s literary, it’s literary YA. After all, the protagonist is twelve years old. The book might seem a bit sophisticated for younger readers, since it’s set in Brazil in 1972 and sprinkled with a lot of Portuguese. I can understand that a gun-shy publisher might well fear book bans, since the novel includes a sympathetic transgender character, some sexual content, gambling, and quite a bit of alcohol use, including by youthful characters. But guess what? These days, plenty of YA books contain sex and drugs, and I think I can predict that, even if it’s not identified as YA, this novel is going to find its way onto the PEN and ALA lists of banned and challenged books, ANYway. That’s the world we live in. Juliet Faithfull, the author, seems to nod to that fact herself, as her novel includes a bookstore with a back room containing books forbidden by the government that tortures and “disappears” dissidents and other “undesirables” like trans people.
The book is YA because the emotional sophistication of Dolores Hamilton, the narrator-protagonist, matches her age. Appropriately, there’s dramatic irony, but no more so than in, say, the Harry Potter books, where a minimally astute young reader can recognize blind spots that the point of view character misses. The book lacks the adult sophistication of style or the retrospective analysis that one would expect of a literary book for adults.
But, okay, if I read the book as a young adult book, it’s a good story. The premise is that Dolores has recently moved to Rio de Janeiro with her parents, but, importantly, without her identical twin sister Marguerite (“Mita”), who has, we gradually learn, cerebral palsy and has suffered a series of severe seizures that have damaged her mentally and physically. Dolores fears that Mita is dead, because their parents refuse to provide information about her whereabouts. We follow the stages of Mita’s decline in chapters set in the past, beginning when the girls were eight, and the family lived in a village in Brazil’s “interior.” Oddly, the girls had no formal schooling, and because the mother is illiterate, they also got no home schooling, so Dolores shows up at the “English school” in Rio unable to read or write, and is accordingly treated by the other students as a “dunce.” While this seems a bit implausible, since the father is a successful business man and a bit of a snob, it means we get some effective scenes of Dolores learning the alphabet from a sympathetic teacher and then to read and write, her motivation being that she wants to be able to write letters to Mita: “All along, I’ve been thinking letters to Mita inside my head; now I can write them into words and sentences, and I feel a huge gladness inside of me, like a balloon in my lungs that might explode with happiness.” Another angle is that Dolores is one of only a small number of Brazilian students at her school, and she is befriended by one of the others, Andrea, the spunky daughter of a former school employee who is now surviving at least partly through prostitution. Through Andrea, Dolores is exposed to Rio’s impoverished and frequently dangerous underside.
I was fully persuaded and engaged by Dolores’s grief at being separated from her twin, especially in the face of the world’s most obtuse parents—they’re less plausible, as is a scene where people are canoeing upstream during a violent flood (having lived through Hurricane Helene, I REALLY don’t think so). But that one is a minor quibble. The generally straightforward style and constant events make for a very fast-paced, readable book. Just NOT a literary one.
But thank you to Penguin Random House for the ARC. Please consider marketing more accurately in the future.
April 6, 2026
(ARC) A stunner of a debut, just wow. Based on the author’s life, it’s about identical twin sisters growing up in rural Brazil, and what happens to the family after one twin falls gravely ill and is institutionalized.
Thank you Thousand Voices for the advanced copy!
Thank you Thousand Voices for the advanced copy!
March 15, 2026
Wow did I love this book. It’s one of those rare treasures that hit all the marks for me. Exceptionally well-written with beautifully flawed characters and a fascinating historic backdrop, I think I will be heartbroken over this story for awhile.
Liar’s Dice is the story of twin sisters Dolores and Mita growing up in 1970s Brazil where the political climate is marked by censorship and human rights violations. For the girls, the tragedy isn’t their country’s repression but the epileptic seizures Mita starts experiencing and their inevitable separation.
I found Dolores’ character to be so relatable. Faithfull portrayed all facets of her personality and thoughts so realistically. I loved hearing her selfish thoughts along with all of her good thoughts…the debate with herself over caring for her sister while wanting things for herself. I was very angry with their parents but as the story went on, I saw the complexity of caring for a disabled child and the impact their decisions had on their mental states.
With themes of Brazil’s political state, caring for a disabled child, sexual assault, being displaced, and literacy, there was a lot of heaviness in the story. Dolores’ found family and learning to read brought a lot of light and hope to the story.
I’m so glad Faithfull persevered in writing this novel.
I was invited by Penguin Random House to read an ARC of this novel via Netgalley.
Liar’s Dice is the story of twin sisters Dolores and Mita growing up in 1970s Brazil where the political climate is marked by censorship and human rights violations. For the girls, the tragedy isn’t their country’s repression but the epileptic seizures Mita starts experiencing and their inevitable separation.
I found Dolores’ character to be so relatable. Faithfull portrayed all facets of her personality and thoughts so realistically. I loved hearing her selfish thoughts along with all of her good thoughts…the debate with herself over caring for her sister while wanting things for herself. I was very angry with their parents but as the story went on, I saw the complexity of caring for a disabled child and the impact their decisions had on their mental states.
With themes of Brazil’s political state, caring for a disabled child, sexual assault, being displaced, and literacy, there was a lot of heaviness in the story. Dolores’ found family and learning to read brought a lot of light and hope to the story.
I’m so glad Faithfull persevered in writing this novel.
I was invited by Penguin Random House to read an ARC of this novel via Netgalley.
April 26, 2026
Liars Dice is a somber coming of age novel set against the backdrop of the tumultuous 1970’s in Brazil. It’s a story of sisterhood, grief, friendship, and holding onto hope. The story is told from the perspective of 12 year old Dolores as she moves from rural Brazil to Rio with her parents. She grapples with the challenge of being illiterate at a new school while also feeling unmoored without her disabled twin sister, who was secreted away to a specialty hospital in London. Along the way, Dolores befriends feisty Andrea who shows her another side of Brazil and helps her to believe in hope again.
I really appreciate how this novel pushed me outside of my reading comfort zone. The story challenged me to empathize with an increasingly desperate tween who is growing up in a time and place that I knew nothing about. It’s emotional and well written overall, but I thought the parallel between the Brazilian people’s hope for freedom from the dictatorship and Dolores’ hope to be reunited with her disabled twin was especially striking. Although this is a fiction novel, I read that the author drew on her own experience of having a disabled twin, and refers to this as a “love letter” to her sister. An interesting, well written, emotional debut that I won’t soon forget. 4/5⭐️
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
I really appreciate how this novel pushed me outside of my reading comfort zone. The story challenged me to empathize with an increasingly desperate tween who is growing up in a time and place that I knew nothing about. It’s emotional and well written overall, but I thought the parallel between the Brazilian people’s hope for freedom from the dictatorship and Dolores’ hope to be reunited with her disabled twin was especially striking. Although this is a fiction novel, I read that the author drew on her own experience of having a disabled twin, and refers to this as a “love letter” to her sister. An interesting, well written, emotional debut that I won’t soon forget. 4/5⭐️
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
March 19, 2026
“I am a watchful girl. I watched my parents for clues, and I always watched Mita for fits, but I didn’t watch close enough, because one day they took her away when I wasn’t looking and suddenly she was gone, and it was too late.”
Beautifully written story! Liar’s Dice is told from 12-year old Dolores’s POV. Her pain, confusion and anger were palpable. I liked Dolores, Andrea, Andrea’s “family” and Mr. “P”; they were all interesting and kindhearted characters. Dolores’ parents were contradictory from her telling, but I began to understand them as the story progressed.
Mita was central to the story and her circumstances are sad, though her spirit was determined and loving. Her connection with Dolores was so sweet; their separation heartrending.
I loved that the story was set in 1970’s Brazil! I soaked up every detail of life there—the good and the bad. Beautiful description by Dolores:
“The rocks of Arpoador glisten in the distance. Ipanema, Copacabana, Leme: one beach leading to the next, like a bracelet sparkling.”
There is a glossary at the end that I should have looked for sooner. Some words I figured out, but others were unclear. After reading through the glossary, I realized I had missed something and had to think back and put pieces together.
Advanced reader copy courtesy of the publishers at NetGalley for review.
Beautifully written story! Liar’s Dice is told from 12-year old Dolores’s POV. Her pain, confusion and anger were palpable. I liked Dolores, Andrea, Andrea’s “family” and Mr. “P”; they were all interesting and kindhearted characters. Dolores’ parents were contradictory from her telling, but I began to understand them as the story progressed.
Mita was central to the story and her circumstances are sad, though her spirit was determined and loving. Her connection with Dolores was so sweet; their separation heartrending.
I loved that the story was set in 1970’s Brazil! I soaked up every detail of life there—the good and the bad. Beautiful description by Dolores:
“The rocks of Arpoador glisten in the distance. Ipanema, Copacabana, Leme: one beach leading to the next, like a bracelet sparkling.”
There is a glossary at the end that I should have looked for sooner. Some words I figured out, but others were unclear. After reading through the glossary, I realized I had missed something and had to think back and put pieces together.
Advanced reader copy courtesy of the publishers at NetGalley for review.
May 20, 2026
4.5 stars. Juliet Faithfull’s debut is such a tender, heartbreaking story about sisterhood and the kind of bond that shapes who you are. Dolores and Mita’s relationship felt so real and deeply emotional — the sort of sister connection where being apart feels like losing a piece of yourself.
The setting of Rio, Brazil in the 1970s was very dangerous at that time with censorship, disappearances, and political repression which only adds to the tension, making the story feel even more raw and emotional. Beautifully written and full of aching moments, it’s a slow-burn, coming-of-age story about love, grief, growing up, and the secrets families keep. Very well done. 🎧 Pub. 4/28/26
The setting of Rio, Brazil in the 1970s was very dangerous at that time with censorship, disappearances, and political repression which only adds to the tension, making the story feel even more raw and emotional. Beautifully written and full of aching moments, it’s a slow-burn, coming-of-age story about love, grief, growing up, and the secrets families keep. Very well done. 🎧 Pub. 4/28/26
June 10, 2026
A heartbreaking tale of sisterly love and identity… this book gutted me.
May 11, 2026
Achingly beautiful and searingly memorable, Liar’s Dice will stay with me for a long time. Juliet Faithfull has written a novel so true and universal that it deserves more than the ‘coming of age’ genre label. I can be bored by CoA stories, but this one kept me turning pages for the lyrical writing and because I cared so much about the sisters’ fate.
May 4, 2026
I really enjoyed this one!
A dual timeline about twins sisters Mita and Dolores. It follows their lives in rural Santanesia Brazil when Mita falls ill to present day Rio - with Mita having since been institutionalized. The book follows Dolores as she navigates the loss and her new surroundings. Somewhat of a coming-of-age novel, Dolores feels all of the adults in her life are lying to her and so she decides to uncover the truth about her sister.
I loved the sense of place - Brazil feels like its own character. I loved Dolores’s determination and persistence, not only in trying to solve the mystery of Mita, but in her learning to read and write.
There are some unsavory bits about the underbelly of Rio, but in my opinion they were not added in in a way that detracted from the beautiful writing.
Thank you so much to Erica Hernandez at Random House for the advanced digital copy. I liked it so much I purchased a shelf trophy! Liar’s Dice was released last week!
A dual timeline about twins sisters Mita and Dolores. It follows their lives in rural Santanesia Brazil when Mita falls ill to present day Rio - with Mita having since been institutionalized. The book follows Dolores as she navigates the loss and her new surroundings. Somewhat of a coming-of-age novel, Dolores feels all of the adults in her life are lying to her and so she decides to uncover the truth about her sister.
I loved the sense of place - Brazil feels like its own character. I loved Dolores’s determination and persistence, not only in trying to solve the mystery of Mita, but in her learning to read and write.
There are some unsavory bits about the underbelly of Rio, but in my opinion they were not added in in a way that detracted from the beautiful writing.
Thank you so much to Erica Hernandez at Random House for the advanced digital copy. I liked it so much I purchased a shelf trophy! Liar’s Dice was released last week!
March 28, 2026
Thank you #randomhouse and #netgalley for providing me with the opportunity of an early read of Liar’s Dice. This book is a rare treasure! I will be thinking about Dolores and her identical twin Mita for awhile. Liar’s Dice is set in early 1970s Brazil under the shadow of the Christ the Redeemer statue. The author uses this imagery to contrast the sins of the country during this tumultuous time, the sins of the adults in this novel and the sins of Dolores’ parents. Dolores and Mira are two happy little girls with an amazing twin bond. When Mira suddenly stars having seizures and gets steadily worse she is taken away to live in a hospital in England. None of this is ever discussed with Dolores and suddenly it’s as if Mira never existed. Dolores feels anger, sadness, guilt, betrayal and isolation from almost every adult in her life. There are parts that are hard to read, but they portray the harsh times and culture of Rio during the early 70s, and I believe they are important to the novel. I loved this story!!! Please put it on your tbr! It will be one of my favorite reads of 2026!
June 15, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing someone speak in fluent Portuguese, you might understand why this is one of my favorite languages to listen to. I was really excited to read this book, but I was way past the release date when I read it. To catch up, I managed to get an audiobook version and I was able to hear the beautiful language spoken by narrator Gisela Chípe as I read along.
Brazil is a country that I don’t know much about, but this book really transports readers to Santanesia and Rio, the two places where Dolores and her identical twin spend most of their young lives.. The locations are depicted so beautifully and vividly, it almost felt like I was right there with Dolores.
The author makes a bold choice in voicing the story through the eyes of a 12 year old girl who is both naïve and sheltered yet also street smart. Faithfull’s decision pays off, and it actually does sound like it is being narrated by a pre-teen girl. Growing up in 1970s Brazil was a bit different than growing up now, and they were exposed to a lot more than they are now.
Dolores is a fantastic character—this is a coming of age novel, while also exploring the powerful bond between identical twins. She’s a good kid, but has some struggles, and her life is full of people as messy as she is in both good and bad ways. She goes through an incredible amount of growth over the course of the story, and it was so poignant to me in the way Mita is always in Dolores’s thoughts, no matter how long they’ve been separated. Despite not being in many of the chapters, Mita’s personality was given space to shine, mainly due to Dolores encouraging and assisting her.
Throughout the book, it’s clear that Dolores is dealing with some very heavy topics. Her early years in Santanesia make it clear that this is in the rural, interior of the country. Life in Santanesia was full of fun, dancing with her twin, and felt suffused with joy. But as the twins hit age 7, everything changes; Mita has a seizure and it’s a really bad one, and the doctor in the village isn’t able to help them enough. Her father is British and her mother is Brazilian, and his employment eventually transfers him to Rio de Janeiro.
Dolores does a great job of viewing the massive differences within the city of Rio—the glamorous side that attracts tourists to the beaches of Ipanema; the favelas of the poorest residents; the nicer neighborhood that she lives in; and the seedier side where sex workers ply their trade. She might be young but she isn’t blind to the very adult issues her family is experiencing as Mita starts experiencing terrifying symptoms—seizures that seem to last forever, and a reduction in coordination. The family eventually moves to Rio to help Mita gets the care she needs, but her worsening symptoms lead to her being diagnosed with cerebral palsy and epilepsy, and eventually she is sent to a hospital in England, without Dolores learning about it until after.
Understandably, Dolores is bereft without her twin and with no way to contact her. Growing up in a small village means that she was taught what her mother knew, and both of them are illiterate. Forced to attend a British school, Dolores faces bullying for more than a few reasons, but mainly because her classmates discover that she can’t read or write. There is one teacher who sees the potential in Dolores and tries to connect with her and tutor her privately, opening a door to a whole new world of reading and writing.
The story is a little on the slow-paced side, and it provides plenty of room for the major growth that Dolores experiences. She struggles with grief, fear, isolation, frustration, and anger at various points in the story, and as Mita’s neurological disease progresses, Dolores is initially afraid that it will also be what she experiences herself, and then experiences survivor’s guilt over her being healthy while her twin becomes sicker to the point of needing institutionalization. Themes of how people with disabilities are treated, the idea of institutionalization, and the effects a severe disease can have on a family. While there has been an ongoing movement towards de-institutionalization in the US since the 1980s, treatments and care homes weren’t always compassionate, empathetic, and genuinely caring.
An outcast at the British school she attends, Dolores finally is befriended by a nice, friendly, supportive friend. However, her friend doesn’t come from a background that her parents would approve of, so Dolores just doesn’t tell them. She reaches a point where she sees the adults always lying to her, so she doesn’t plan to keep being honest with them. I couldn’t help but empathize with her and how she is trying so hard to manage her feelings without having developed the appropriate coping skills.
Overall, I was really impressed with this book. The genuine feel of a 12 year old narrator as she navigates growing up and managing the change from life in small village to the busy and potentially dangerous streets of Rio. I loved all the Portuguese that is used throughout the novel, and Chípe was a joy to listen to, especially since there is a glossary at the back of the book (both e-book and audiobook versions). The vivid setting depictions made it so easy to visualize them in my head, while the characters are barely described at all, aside from a few characters noted as having very dark complexions while others are lighter-skinned. I would have liked to be able to picture the characters as easily as the locations. This was a fantastic read, and I found it to be one of the most enjoyable books I’ve read in a while. But the thing that I was most happy to see was the unconditional acceptance Dolores has towards Mita, even as her neurological symptoms progress to the point where she requires braces on her feet to a wheelchair, to living in an institutional setting. No matter what Mita’s struggles are, Dolores is her assistant, motivator, and personal cheerleader, even when others in their life don’t view things the same. It opens the door to how people with disabilities are treated, in their small inner circle of family and loved ones, and rippling out to anyone that has contacted with a disabled person, which isn’t always the way that society at large views people with disabilities.
Bottom line: A beautiful and touching tribute to the bond between twins as one of them navigates Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s, while facing bullying and fighting her own illiteracy as she strives to reconnect with her twin.
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing someone speak in fluent Portuguese, you might understand why this is one of my favorite languages to listen to. I was really excited to read this book, but I was way past the release date when I read it. To catch up, I managed to get an audiobook version and I was able to hear the beautiful language spoken by narrator Gisela Chípe as I read along.
Brazil is a country that I don’t know much about, but this book really transports readers to Santanesia and Rio, the two places where Dolores and her identical twin spend most of their young lives.. The locations are depicted so beautifully and vividly, it almost felt like I was right there with Dolores.
The author makes a bold choice in voicing the story through the eyes of a 12 year old girl who is both naïve and sheltered yet also street smart. Faithfull’s decision pays off, and it actually does sound like it is being narrated by a pre-teen girl. Growing up in 1970s Brazil was a bit different than growing up now, and they were exposed to a lot more than they are now.
Dolores is a fantastic character—this is a coming of age novel, while also exploring the powerful bond between identical twins. She’s a good kid, but has some struggles, and her life is full of people as messy as she is in both good and bad ways. She goes through an incredible amount of growth over the course of the story, and it was so poignant to me in the way Mita is always in Dolores’s thoughts, no matter how long they’ve been separated. Despite not being in many of the chapters, Mita’s personality was given space to shine, mainly due to Dolores encouraging and assisting her.
Throughout the book, it’s clear that Dolores is dealing with some very heavy topics. Her early years in Santanesia make it clear that this is in the rural, interior of the country. Life in Santanesia was full of fun, dancing with her twin, and felt suffused with joy. But as the twins hit age 7, everything changes; Mita has a seizure and it’s a really bad one, and the doctor in the village isn’t able to help them enough. Her father is British and her mother is Brazilian, and his employment eventually transfers him to Rio de Janeiro.
Dolores does a great job of viewing the massive differences within the city of Rio—the glamorous side that attracts tourists to the beaches of Ipanema; the favelas of the poorest residents; the nicer neighborhood that she lives in; and the seedier side where sex workers ply their trade. She might be young but she isn’t blind to the very adult issues her family is experiencing as Mita starts experiencing terrifying symptoms—seizures that seem to last forever, and a reduction in coordination. The family eventually moves to Rio to help Mita gets the care she needs, but her worsening symptoms lead to her being diagnosed with cerebral palsy and epilepsy, and eventually she is sent to a hospital in England, without Dolores learning about it until after.
Understandably, Dolores is bereft without her twin and with no way to contact her. Growing up in a small village means that she was taught what her mother knew, and both of them are illiterate. Forced to attend a British school, Dolores faces bullying for more than a few reasons, but mainly because her classmates discover that she can’t read or write. There is one teacher who sees the potential in Dolores and tries to connect with her and tutor her privately, opening a door to a whole new world of reading and writing.
The story is a little on the slow-paced side, and it provides plenty of room for the major growth that Dolores experiences. She struggles with grief, fear, isolation, frustration, and anger at various points in the story, and as Mita’s neurological disease progresses, Dolores is initially afraid that it will also be what she experiences herself, and then experiences survivor’s guilt over her being healthy while her twin becomes sicker to the point of needing institutionalization. Themes of how people with disabilities are treated, the idea of institutionalization, and the effects a severe disease can have on a family. While there has been an ongoing movement towards de-institutionalization in the US since the 1980s, treatments and care homes weren’t always compassionate, empathetic, and genuinely caring.
An outcast at the British school she attends, Dolores finally is befriended by a nice, friendly, supportive friend. However, her friend doesn’t come from a background that her parents would approve of, so Dolores just doesn’t tell them. She reaches a point where she sees the adults always lying to her, so she doesn’t plan to keep being honest with them. I couldn’t help but empathize with her and how she is trying so hard to manage her feelings without having developed the appropriate coping skills.
Overall, I was really impressed with this book. The genuine feel of a 12 year old narrator as she navigates growing up and managing the change from life in small village to the busy and potentially dangerous streets of Rio. I loved all the Portuguese that is used throughout the novel, and Chípe was a joy to listen to, especially since there is a glossary at the back of the book (both e-book and audiobook versions). The vivid setting depictions made it so easy to visualize them in my head, while the characters are barely described at all, aside from a few characters noted as having very dark complexions while others are lighter-skinned. I would have liked to be able to picture the characters as easily as the locations. This was a fantastic read, and I found it to be one of the most enjoyable books I’ve read in a while. But the thing that I was most happy to see was the unconditional acceptance Dolores has towards Mita, even as her neurological symptoms progress to the point where she requires braces on her feet to a wheelchair, to living in an institutional setting. No matter what Mita’s struggles are, Dolores is her assistant, motivator, and personal cheerleader, even when others in their life don’t view things the same. It opens the door to how people with disabilities are treated, in their small inner circle of family and loved ones, and rippling out to anyone that has contacted with a disabled person, which isn’t always the way that society at large views people with disabilities.
Bottom line: A beautiful and touching tribute to the bond between twins as one of them navigates Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s, while facing bullying and fighting her own illiteracy as she strives to reconnect with her twin.
October 30, 2025
Dolores and Margarita (Mita) are twins, preteens growing up in Brazil with parents very concerned about fitting in socially and financially. The women in the family are illiterate but that is about to change for Dolores, whose need for reading and writing abilities are as great as her need to be reunited with her twin sister. Dolores must navigate the hallways of the British School in Rîo, the bars and clubs where she learns how to bluff and win at dice games by watching her father, and the seedier parts of the city where her new best friend (and her friend's mother and her friends) make a living. Where she finds love and guidance may surprise readers, and how each member of her family deals with feelings of guilt will elicit readers' compassion. I am grateful for Juliet Faithfull working so long to produce this lovely book and so glad she added the epilogue to give readers a bit of closure.
May 1, 2026
Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random Hall for an advance copy of this novel.
This is a sparkling debut for American-Brazilian-English author Juliet Faithfull. She acknowledges that it took her ten years to complete, but the many perspectives, characters and stories that meet and separate so beautifully are clearly the outcome of that commitment.
The major part of this story concerns twin girls, Dolores and Margarita (Mita) Hamilton, with Dolores as the narrator. Their father is an ambitious Englishman who emigrated to Brazil after the Second World War to participate in its new development. The nation suffered from exploitation by various imperial powers throughout the twentieth century. By the early 1960s, foreign, especially American, investment was raising hopes for progress.
Yet Brazilians were just as exploited by their own government, a fierce and corrupt dictatorship that permitted torture and police brutality against any individual or group found to have offended those in power. And this was a large, indefinite cluster targeting the usual scapegoats. Some were simply poor people protesting inequality and police oppression. Others were the ‘different,’ gays, transvestites, people with disabilities, mixed-race and Black Brazilians. Faithfull draws on her characters for believable, sensitive and inspiring examples from each group.
Dolores and Mita share the special closeness of twins, and perhaps the particular closeness of twins born prematurely to a young and uneducated mother. Andrew Hamilton married Isabela because she would make him a beautiful, capable and mostly subservient wife. The twins’ birth in the these primitive surroundings was difficult. Severely underweight and premature, they struggled to survive, especially the smaller one, Mita. Yet they developed at the same rate until they were about 7, when Mita began showing signs of birth injury in the form of worsening ‘fits’ requiring longer and longer stays in the more modern Rio hospital. Once their father obtained a transfer, the family moved to Rio. Not long afterwards, Isabela and Mita took a night flight to England, to a special residential school for mentally and physically challenged children. Dolores didn’t even know that she was going. Much in the manner that Brazilians desperately sought the return of the ‘disparacedos,’ the disappeared who were kidnapped and killed by the government, Dolores’ coming of age is marked by the search to reconnect with her ‘disappeared’ sister. Without Mita, she feels that she will also disappear. While enrolled at the ‘English’ school that she loathes, she finally breaks through the walls of her illiteracy. She learns to write solely with the intention of writing to her sister.
The author writes of horrible things with a compassion that makes clear that terrible conditions often necessitate terrible choices. Many of her characters are obliged to make such choices, or at least to rationalize, like the Hamiltons, that their choice was for everyone’s good. Because she deeply resents their choice, Dolores rationalizes that tormenting her parents, lying to them, engaging in risky behavior, are choices forced on her. Dolores’ only friend Andrea raised in a slum by prostitutes, challenges convention at all turns. And the poor prostitutes and other sex workers, such as the beautiful transvestite Sylvia, have to choose degrading and dangerous lifestyles because of the conditions they were born into. Or choose to starve.
Faithful writes poetically, even when many of her scenes are far from poetic. Her descriptions of local feasts, foods, taverns, adult games like the ‘Liar’s Dice’ that the twins’ father obsesses about, the beaches and neighborhoods are so evocative that even a reader who has never visited Brazil (me) will see, hear, and smell the places she captures. This is one of the best books I’ve read all year.
This is a sparkling debut for American-Brazilian-English author Juliet Faithfull. She acknowledges that it took her ten years to complete, but the many perspectives, characters and stories that meet and separate so beautifully are clearly the outcome of that commitment.
The major part of this story concerns twin girls, Dolores and Margarita (Mita) Hamilton, with Dolores as the narrator. Their father is an ambitious Englishman who emigrated to Brazil after the Second World War to participate in its new development. The nation suffered from exploitation by various imperial powers throughout the twentieth century. By the early 1960s, foreign, especially American, investment was raising hopes for progress.
Yet Brazilians were just as exploited by their own government, a fierce and corrupt dictatorship that permitted torture and police brutality against any individual or group found to have offended those in power. And this was a large, indefinite cluster targeting the usual scapegoats. Some were simply poor people protesting inequality and police oppression. Others were the ‘different,’ gays, transvestites, people with disabilities, mixed-race and Black Brazilians. Faithfull draws on her characters for believable, sensitive and inspiring examples from each group.
Dolores and Mita share the special closeness of twins, and perhaps the particular closeness of twins born prematurely to a young and uneducated mother. Andrew Hamilton married Isabela because she would make him a beautiful, capable and mostly subservient wife. The twins’ birth in the these primitive surroundings was difficult. Severely underweight and premature, they struggled to survive, especially the smaller one, Mita. Yet they developed at the same rate until they were about 7, when Mita began showing signs of birth injury in the form of worsening ‘fits’ requiring longer and longer stays in the more modern Rio hospital. Once their father obtained a transfer, the family moved to Rio. Not long afterwards, Isabela and Mita took a night flight to England, to a special residential school for mentally and physically challenged children. Dolores didn’t even know that she was going. Much in the manner that Brazilians desperately sought the return of the ‘disparacedos,’ the disappeared who were kidnapped and killed by the government, Dolores’ coming of age is marked by the search to reconnect with her ‘disappeared’ sister. Without Mita, she feels that she will also disappear. While enrolled at the ‘English’ school that she loathes, she finally breaks through the walls of her illiteracy. She learns to write solely with the intention of writing to her sister.
The author writes of horrible things with a compassion that makes clear that terrible conditions often necessitate terrible choices. Many of her characters are obliged to make such choices, or at least to rationalize, like the Hamiltons, that their choice was for everyone’s good. Because she deeply resents their choice, Dolores rationalizes that tormenting her parents, lying to them, engaging in risky behavior, are choices forced on her. Dolores’ only friend Andrea raised in a slum by prostitutes, challenges convention at all turns. And the poor prostitutes and other sex workers, such as the beautiful transvestite Sylvia, have to choose degrading and dangerous lifestyles because of the conditions they were born into. Or choose to starve.
Faithful writes poetically, even when many of her scenes are far from poetic. Her descriptions of local feasts, foods, taverns, adult games like the ‘Liar’s Dice’ that the twins’ father obsesses about, the beaches and neighborhoods are so evocative that even a reader who has never visited Brazil (me) will see, hear, and smell the places she captures. This is one of the best books I’ve read all year.
April 26, 2026
3.75/5 ⭐️
I saw the description for this story and it immediately piqued my curiosity. The fact that it takes place in Brazil only fueled that interest.
The writing was pretty good. The metaphors used for Dolores and Mita’s relationship do not come off as absurd. Every single setting in this story is described so vividly to the point where it feels like you have been there before. I must admit some of the pacing was wonky. The book tackles two timelines simultaneously. The first centers on Dolores’ past in Santanésia, which is the one Mita was a part of. The other covers her present life in Rio, which Mita is absent from. The switches between the past and present felt random. It took me a while getting used to the changes.
Dolores was a strong main character. It is not hard to feel for her. She finds it difficult to live her life while her twin deteriorates. Throughout the story, her biggest struggle is change. Dolores cannot accept Mita will never be the sister she once knew. Her parents act like Mita does not exist, and Dolores resents them for this. Her arc consists of not only learning how to live without Mita, but also doing so without her guilt weighing her down.
I was a bit shocked at seeing the r slur used multiple times. I guess it makes sense given the context of this story, but it still bothered me. It is why I cannot love this book, despite it having so many elements for a great story. Maybe I’m too sensitive, but I felt like I had to say this.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC.
I saw the description for this story and it immediately piqued my curiosity. The fact that it takes place in Brazil only fueled that interest.
The writing was pretty good. The metaphors used for Dolores and Mita’s relationship do not come off as absurd. Every single setting in this story is described so vividly to the point where it feels like you have been there before. I must admit some of the pacing was wonky. The book tackles two timelines simultaneously. The first centers on Dolores’ past in Santanésia, which is the one Mita was a part of. The other covers her present life in Rio, which Mita is absent from. The switches between the past and present felt random. It took me a while getting used to the changes.
Dolores was a strong main character. It is not hard to feel for her. She finds it difficult to live her life while her twin deteriorates. Throughout the story, her biggest struggle is change. Dolores cannot accept Mita will never be the sister she once knew. Her parents act like Mita does not exist, and Dolores resents them for this. Her arc consists of not only learning how to live without Mita, but also doing so without her guilt weighing her down.
I was a bit shocked at seeing the r slur used multiple times. I guess it makes sense given the context of this story, but it still bothered me. It is why I cannot love this book, despite it having so many elements for a great story. Maybe I’m too sensitive, but I felt like I had to say this.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC.
June 19, 2026
This is a heartbreaking coming of age story that showcases the unbreakable bond of sisterhood. The story is written very well. It is extremely immersive, especially with the time period it’s written in. I liked how, while there is a lot of hardship, the book ends with a sense of hope and promise!
I did find this book to be a little slower moving in some places. I also didn’t like reading from Dolores’ POV at times either. While I understand she is very young, so the writing does fit, it also kind of makes the book read a little young as well. Again, it makes sense, but I don’t think it was for me.
There is a lot this book does really well! It’s such a strong debut. Ultimately, this was not my favorite. Historical fiction can be hit or miss for me though. If this sounds interesting, I would definitely recommend picking it up. Especially if you enjoy historical fiction and stories about sisters!
***Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
I did find this book to be a little slower moving in some places. I also didn’t like reading from Dolores’ POV at times either. While I understand she is very young, so the writing does fit, it also kind of makes the book read a little young as well. Again, it makes sense, but I don’t think it was for me.
There is a lot this book does really well! It’s such a strong debut. Ultimately, this was not my favorite. Historical fiction can be hit or miss for me though. If this sounds interesting, I would definitely recommend picking it up. Especially if you enjoy historical fiction and stories about sisters!
***Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
May 4, 2026
It took me a few days to write a review for this book because the story impacted me so much! I sympathized with Dolores so much while she was trying to find out what happened to her twin sister, Mita, while navigating life in a new city and school.
This was a wonderful debut novel where the author was able to combine so many themes: loyalty, family dynamics, found family...And the story never felt like it was losing its way. The backdrop of dictatorship made the story more complex (and infuriating), but again, the author was able to integrate this seamlessly into the story.
Read this!
Thank you to Penguin Random House and the author for providing a free copy of this book through NetGalley.
This was a wonderful debut novel where the author was able to combine so many themes: loyalty, family dynamics, found family...And the story never felt like it was losing its way. The backdrop of dictatorship made the story more complex (and infuriating), but again, the author was able to integrate this seamlessly into the story.
Read this!
Thank you to Penguin Random House and the author for providing a free copy of this book through NetGalley.
June 7, 2026
Dolores is a 12-year-old girl growing up in 1970s Brazil. Her twin sister has just been placed in a hospital in England for disabled children and Dolores and her family have just moved from a small town to Rio. This is a heart-rending story of how Dolores comes to terms with her life and the changes in her family. It was often very sad and had some upsetting passages about the sexualization of children.
I know this book won't be for everyone, but I thought the writing was lovely and the story was ultimately hopeful.
I know this book won't be for everyone, but I thought the writing was lovely and the story was ultimately hopeful.
April 19, 2026
I had the chance to read an early copy of “Liar’s Dice” via NetGalley, and it left a deep impression. The novel follows a twin sister’s emotional journey as she seeks answers about her sibling, hidden away in another country. The family’s silence, guilt, and the protagonist’s determination create a heavy, yet beautifully written narrative. It’s a poignant, thought-provoking story that lingers with you long after you’ve turned the last page.
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