The Little Liar

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses the novel’s depictions of genocide, antisemitism, and extreme violence.

In The Little Liar, the author makes it a point to illustrate just how devastating the consequences of bending the truth can be. The premise of the novel revolves around a lie, one told by 11-year-old Nico Krispis on a train platform in Salonika, Greece. Nazi SS officer Udo Graf tells Nico that if he promises the people being forced into train cars to Auschwitz that they are going to be taken to a new home, Udo will reunite Nico with his family. Nico is fully deceived and encourages thousands of people to board the trains that will carry them to their deaths. This lie contributes to the catastrophic destruction of the Jewish community in Salonika, whose population dwindles to less than 2,000 surviving members after the war (“Salonika.” The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). Upon realizing the full extent of his unintentional lie, Nico becomes a pathological liar and spends his life trying to atone for his actions. Truth, the narrator, states, “The boy would survive. But Nico Krispis would die that afternoon and his name would never be used again” (92), and this quote highlights the fact that deception harms the liar as much as the targets of the lie itself.