The Blood Lie

November 14, 2011
Inspired by true events that affected debut novelist Vernick's relatives, this historical drama tackles the weighty issue of anti-Semitism with uncompromising clarity. It's 1928, on the eve of Yom Kippur, and 16-year-old Jack Pool is unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight when a young girl vanishes. Unscrupulous smugglers in need of a distraction blame Jack and the rest of the Jewish community in their small upstate New York town, prompting illegal searches and persecution. As the hateful lies and rumors spread, the innocent Jack and his family struggle to stay safe, even as their neighbors turn against them. Marked by ugly words and uglier actions, this isn't an easy story; despite the novel being grounded in a particular time and place, the authentic depictions of a community driven to false accusations based on paranoid assumptions and prejudice has contemporary relevance. Yet Vernick maintains a thread of cautious optimism, by way of characters who acknowledge the insidious reality of anti-Semitism, while refusing to have their personal relationships tainted by it. Ages 10âup.