Marianne Harrison was no ordinary post-war Canadian child. Born into genteel poverty, her life was transformed when her father inherited a fortune. But the dark allure of wealth soon warped her parents' eccentricity into madness, and ultimately she and her family lived like a nest of dragons in a shabby little house crammed with fabulous art and glittering antiques. An Encyclopaedia of Lies is a radical departure from the standard memoir - stories are interwoven and events juxtaposed in an inventive and imaginative experiment with recording memories. Forest spirits, a stolen portrait of Sir Isaac Newton, an emerald the size of a quail's egg, and the body of a murdered girl are entwined in this extraordinary account of a childhood which is both unique and unforgettable.