In 2021 the Japanese edition of The Lie Tree was shortlisted for the Best Translated Honkaku Mystery of the Decade (2010-2019). The judges for the Children's Book Award 'loved dark, sprawling, fiercely clever novel', stating it would 'grip readers of all ages', while the chair of the judges for the Book of the Year award described the book as a 'real page turner', suitable for adults as much as for children. In the 2015 Costa Book Awards, The Lie Tree won both in the Children's Book Award category and the overall Book of the Year, an achievement only previously managed by Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass in 2001. The Sunday Times named the book its children's book of the year for 2015. The Guardian praised The Lie Tree's 'convincing picture of the times' and Hardinge's 'trademark wit and intelligence', calling the book 'at once entertaining and provocative'. The lies and rumors that Faith starts grow rapidly and events soon become out of control. In her efforts to discover what happened to her father, and to follow his footsteps of studying natural science, she discovers a tree that provides truths by feeding on whispered lies. The Lie Tree is set in the male-dominated Victorian scientific society, and tells the story of Faith Sunderly, a 14-year-old girl whose father is killed under mysterious circumstances after the family moves to a small island to get away from London.

The book won the 2015 Costa Book of the Year. The list is a long one.The Lie Tree is the seventh children's fantasy novel by Frances Hardinge, published in 2015 by Macmillan Publishers. Many other authors have been producing superb work: Marcus Sedgwick’s dazzling The Ghosts of Heaven, which spans time from early humans to the distant future Sally Gardner’s Maggot Moon, about an oppressive regime and a gay teenager Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines series, slick and dark Meg Rosoff’s witty, surprising fictions.

Pullman, alongside JK Rowling, was at the forefront of a resurgence in the field of children’s literature, proving that it can be serious and entertaining. That had cosmic scope, theological grandiosity, and an intrepid, innocent child heroine. This is the first “children’s book” to win the main Costa gong since Philip Pullman in 2001 with The Amber Spyglass.

Nevertheless, those who write for children, or publish books for children, or anyone interested in this vast and varied literature, should be rejoicing. And that, by the longest of miles, is true for The Lie Tree. The children’s publisher David Fickling, when asked what a children’s book was, said that there is no such thing only good books that can be read by all. I say novel, and not children’s novel, for a reason. It comes as absolutely no surprise to me that Frances Hardinge, winner of the 2015 Costa Children’s Book Award, has gone on to win the overall prize, Costa Book of the Year, for her superb novel, The Lie Tree.

The life tree frances hardinge