Honor and Lies — Elizabeth Lee

In the Beginning: When 14-year-old Sissy discovers she's not simply the dark skinned friend of the Davis family, she's devastated. The truth destroys everything she's ever known about herself. In the Valley of the Shadow: Raised in the house as a playmate to the Davis daughter, Sissy's been educated in books not in skills that will get her through the rough life she now knows awaits her. Still, Sissy takes a job in the kitchens, facing the persecution of other slaves and the sun-up-to-sun-down work in the hottest place on the plantation. In the Beginning: While Sissy works, Savannah Davis wonders. Why has the one person she's always been able to turn to suddenly alienated herself from her home? In the Valley of the Shadow: Savannah, the 14-year-old rebel who believes in abolition and espouses Northern doctrine whenever she gets the chance, doesn't understand her sudden emotional turmoil over right and wrong. She wishes she could go back to being the girl who believed in a world that was both fair and just. Deliverance...Or not? Both girls are forced to decide whether they will pursue their dreams or let them die at a time when death becomes all too real. Set against the backdrop of the Civil War era, Honor and Lies is a dual coming of age story of family, loss and love.