Review: ALL THE TRUTH THAT’S IN ME by Julie Berry

This is a dark book.  ALL THE TRUTH THAT’S IN ME follows the story of a girl who has lost her ability to speak in one of the most horrible ways imaginable.  And, perhaps the worst part, is that she has returned to a town that fears her.  A family that rejects her.  And a former best friend, a friend she loves, whom she doesn’t quite know how to reach out to.

Viking Juvenile, September 2013.

Taking place in a colonial-esque village, Julie Berry’s latest is not for the feint of heart.  After being kidnapped and maimed, Judith has pretty much accepted her fate as an outcast.  But there are problems.  There’s the fact that the other girl who went missing died, and the town has questions she can’t — or maybe can’t bring herself — to answer.  Her mother has told her not to even try to speak, because the sounds she makes are too monstrous.  And Judith can’t quell her love for the boy who she knows can’t love her as she is now.  When an attack on her town threatens to destroy the lives of everyone she loves, Judith knows what she has to do.  But it won’t be easy.  And, in the end, it might not only open old wounds but create new questions that she cannot answer.

ALL THE TRUTH THAT’S IN ME is frightening.  Not just because of the horror, but because of the reality that Judith’s story could be anyone’s.  That this isn’t a phenomenon of any specific time period. It is frightening because Judith is a hero who doesn’t know her own power, who is easily written off as weak or tragic or freakish.  And it is frightening because Julie Berry has written it so beautifully, sparing no detail, leaving nothing out that might reveal the truth of the human heart.  This book has already received some fantastic accolades.  I hope to see many more.