Lesson 24 — Activity 3: About The Lie That Had To Be
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Lesson 24 — Activity 3: About The Lie that Had to Be
Before you begin reading the novel, this activity will introduce you to the story.
The Lie that Had to Be was written by Sharon Gibson Palermo, a writer who lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
In the front pages of the book, she writes this dedication:
"To those who have suffered in war and to my Italian relatives, without whom this story would never have been imagined."
The Lie that Had to Be was written by Sharon Gibson Palermo, a writer who lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
In the front pages of the book, she writes this dedication:
"To those who have suffered in war and to my Italian relatives, without whom this story would never have been imagined."
As we might guess from this information, the novel is about the
experience of a Canadian family living in Nova Scotia during World War
II. The experience of this family is different than that of many
Canadian families during wartime. That is because they are immigrants
from Italy. Italy was one of the countries Canada and the other Allied
nations were fighting against. As a result, many Canadians of Italian
background were sent to internment camps because they were suspected
(usually with no evidence) of being spies or traitors against the Canadian
side in the war.
Click here to see more information about the plight of other Italian Canadian families during World War II.
The preface to the novel (page 8) establishes the setting of the novel:
"It is 1940. Rennie Trani is a ten-year-old girl living in an area of Sydney, Nova Scotia, known as Whitney Pier. There is a war on, and the names of the enemy — Hitler, Mussolini, Germany — are on the radio and in the adults' conversations constantly. But the war is far across the sea and doesn't touch Rennie. At least, it doesn't touch her until the late afternoon of Monday, June 10 ..."
"It is 1940. Rennie Trani is a ten-year-old girl living in an area of Sydney, Nova Scotia, known as Whitney Pier. There is a war on, and the names of the enemy — Hitler, Mussolini, Germany — are on the radio and in the adults' conversations constantly. But the war is far across the sea and doesn't touch Rennie. At least, it doesn't touch her until the late afternoon of Monday, June 10 ..."