Book Review: “The Name of the Star” by Maureen Johnson

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson 

Publisher: Speak
Publishing Date: September 2011
Genre: young adult, paranormal, gothic
ISBN: 9780142422052
Goodreads: 3.9
Rating: ★★★★★

The day that Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London to start a new life at boarding school is also the day a series of brutal murders breaks out over the city, killings mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper spree of more than a century ago. Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him–the only one who can see him. And now Rory has become his next target. In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities.

Louisiana teen Rory Deveaux transfers to England to attend Wexford, an East London boarding school. On the day of her arrival, a murder occurs — one that mimics the exact same murder as Jack the Ripper’s in 1888. Students and society are entranced more than horrified, following the murders and recounting the history like a historical documentary or TV reality show. But when Rory realizes she can see the murderer and no one else can, her peaceful existence at school ends. This modern Ripper has his sights set on her and her alone.

A thrilling and entertaining read, especially for an American reader who has traveled to England and went on a Jack the Ripper tour that took you to the exact locations of the murders. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Rory adapting to life in England — noticing the way the English say “thing” (fink) and “perfect” (pahhh-fect); constantly being corrected for defining England, Great Britain, and United Kingdom; interpreting how English boys flirt versus American boys. Reading this was partly nostalgic.

The characters, even the ghosts, were remarkably relatable and realistic. Jazza was my favorite. If I were a character in this book, I would be Jazza to a T: her love for books (especially Austen), her steadfast determination to do good and think positively of others even when angered, her desire to do well in classes and stay out of trouble. Jerome is an enthusiastic journalist-to-be, constantly keeping tabs on the latest reports for the Ripper case. Boo, Callum, and Stephen were fascinating to read, their backgrounds and past lifestyles shining through their every action and phrase before it was explained to Rory. I especially enjoyed the way Johnson wrote the various ghosts, too — Jo in the 1940s garb and language, Alistair and his love for literature and the Smiths, the man in the tunnel lost and confused, even the Ripper and his mad obsession.

To see ghosts, one has to experience near-death. Once one sees ghosts, a whole new heirarchy must be explored. Some ghosts are misty and can hardly speak. Some have full ghostly bodies, but repeat the same words or phrases over and over. Others can hold conversations and pass through solid structures, while others look and act mistakenly like humans because they can move solid objects and interact with the environment. This is what sets the ball rolling for the new Ripper: no one can see him, but he can handle a knife.

Thrilling, chilling, and humorous all at once, Johnson’s first book in her paranormal trilogy is worth every second of reading!

Book Review: “Strands of Bronze and Gold” by Jane Nickerson

Strands of Bronze and Gold by Jane Nickerson 

Publisher: Random House Children’s Books
Publishing Date: March 2013
Genre: young adult, gothic, historical fiction
ISBN: 9780307975980
Goodreads: 3.6
Rating: ★★★★

When seventeen-year-old Sophia Petheram’s beloved father dies, she receives an unexpected letter. An invitation—on fine ivory paper, in bold black handwriting—from the mysterious Monsieur Bernard de Cressac, her godfather. With no money and fewer options, Sophie accepts, leaving her humble childhood home for the astonishingly lavish Wyndriven Abbey, in the heart of Mississippi.

Sophie has always longed for a comfortable life, and she finds herself both attracted to and shocked by the charm and easy manners of her overgenerous guardian. But as she begins to piece together the mystery of his past, it’s as if, thread by thread, a silken net is tightening around her. And as she gathers stories and catches whispers of his former wives—all with hair as red as her own—in the forgotten corners of the abbey, Sophie knows she’s trapped in the passion and danger of de Cressac’s intoxicating world.

Sophia leaves her brothers and sister in Boston to stay with her godfather, Monsieur Bernard de Cressac, in Wyndriven Abbey in Mississippi. A handsome, alluring, and wealthy man, de Cressac lures Sophia under his spell by lavishing her with attention and riches. But as Sophia learns more about de Cressac’s four dead wives, notices the lack of company from town, and is forbidden to leave without de Cressac’s permission, she begins to unravel a horrifying past. Trapped in a tangled web of passion and deceit, Sophia fights for freedom and escape to avoid becoming a fifth dead wife.

Nickerson’s Bluebeard fairy tale retold is stunning. I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere of 1850s Mississippi Wyndriven Abbey — both enchanting and foreboding all at once. Bernard is similar in that nature, too charming to be real, too attentive to be safe. While Sophia is entranced with the Mississippi estate, the reader is on high alert for something amiss. That unease continues throughout the book, culminating in high suspense and terror.

Sophia’s character growth throughout the book is phenomenal. Although Sophia (Nickerson, really) continuously pointed out how different current Sophia was to past Sophia, it was apparent without the added insight. She arrives in humid Mississippi under her godfather’s spell, adoring the clothes he purchases, the mesmerizing food she tastes, and the little gifts and outings Bernard showers upon her. By the end of the novel, she’s fierce, brave, and does not care about frivolous things. I enjoyed watching her grow up, even if the circumstances were horrifying and far from ideal.

One aspect about the book, from a historical standpoint, that I liked was the incorporation of slavery and a Northerner’s opinion on it compared to a Southerner’s. This part of the book is up for some debate — was it portrayed accurately? Is Sophia too naïve? Is the dialogue appropriate? — but I think, considering Sophia’s lack of experience and intolerance of slavery, it’s entirely appropriate and portrayed rather well. In other words, her innocence lends to the representation.

Suspenseful, enchanting, terrifying, magical, and gruesome, this book is definitely worth a read.

Book Review: “The Madman’s Daughter” by Megan Shepherd

The Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd 

Published: January 2013
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Genre: young adult, gothic, adventure, sci-fi
ISBN: 9780062128027
Goodreads: 3.77
Rating: ★★★

Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father’s gruesome experiments. But when she learns he is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations are true.

Accompanied by her father’s handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward—both of whom she is deeply drawn to—Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father’s madness: He has experimented on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. And worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island’s inhabitants. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father’s dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it’s too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father’s genius—and madness—in her own blood.

Inspired by H. G. Wells’s classic The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Madman’s Daughter is a dark and breathless Gothic thriller about the secrets we’ll do anything to know and the truths we’ll go to any lengths to protect.

Juliet Moreau is a cleaning maid in King’s College, London, brought down from her place in aristocracy when her father performed illegal surgeries and disappeared. When she receives news of a possibility of his return, she seeks him out only to find her old servant Montgomery. After begging him to take her to her father, Montgomery and Juliet sail to the South Pacific and land on a remote island, filled with disfigured natives and an eerie sense that her father is hiding behind a monstrosity larger than she could ever dream of.

Shepherd does an excellent job of maintaining interest as the book progresses. Each chapter is full of action, horror, and scientific curiosity. Each character, from Juliet to Montgomery, to Dr Moreau and the marooned Edward, from Balthazar to Alice, has something to hide. The suspense of their personal secrets, mixed with the dangers of the humid and wild jungle, make for a fantastic gothic read. It’s inspired me to read Wells’s The Island of Dr. Moreau, which normally I wouldn’t have read!

However, what prevented me from giving the book four or five stars is the forced love triangle. Juliet is torn between Montgomery and Edward, and even in the most terrifying situations she mulls over her emotions. At the end of the book, after all twists and turns are revealed, this conflict is somewhat justified — to give in to animal instinct or to give in to human emotion? The story could have been much better if the triangle weren’t so emphasized or pronounced. The secrets and science and eerie quality of the island could have become more of a character itself — and it had plenty of opportunity to be a character — rather than a backdrop.

According to Goodreads, this may be the first of a trilogy. I like the way it ended, and do not see a need for a second or third book, but it would be interesting to see what Shepherd has next.

Book Review: “The Hallowed Ones” by Laura Bickle

The Hallowed Ones by Laura Bickle 

Publisher: HMH
Publishing Date: September 2012
Genre: young adult, fantasy, gothic, horror
ISBN: 9780547859262
Goodreads: 4.05
Rating: ★★★★★

Katie is on the verge of her Rumspringa, the time in Amish life when teenagers are free to experience non-Amish culture before officially joining the church. But before Rumspringa arrives, Katie’s safe world starts to crumble. It begins with a fiery helicopter crash in the cornfields, followed by rumors of massive unrest and the disappearance of huge numbers of people all over the world. Something is out there…and it is making a killing.

Unsure why they haven’t yet been attacked, the Amish Elders make a decree: No one goes outside their community, and no one is allowed in. But when Katie finds a gravely injured young man lying just outside the boundary of their land, she can’t leave him to die. She refuses to submit to the Elders’ rule and secretly brings the stranger into her community — but what else is she bringing in with him?

Katie is looking forward to her Rumspringa with Elijah in three weeks. It’ll be the one and only time she can live by her own rules before deciding whether to be baptized into the Amish church. She’s already a bit rebellious, questioning the Elders instead of blindly obeying. But after a helicopter crash and a few Amish disappearances, Katie decides to take matters into her own hands. Once an Outside stranger enters her world, her little rebellions pile up. Katie, fully aware of the Darkness infiltrating her small community, implores the Amish to toss their prayers and passive ways and fight back.

This was a terrifying book. I hardly slept. With each of Katie’s rebellions (questioning Elders, then buying comic books, then stealing Coke, breaking the quarantine, allowing a stranger to come in), a new horror strikes the page. One minute she is walking through a field, the next a white horse bursts through the trees carrying a saddle with a bloody boot still hooked in the stirrups. One minute she’s milking the cows, the next she enters a home drenched in blood from a family slaughter. Every sentence is agonizingly suspenseful, making the eagerness to turn the page both foreboding and exciting.

Bickle clearly worked hard to get Amish culture correct in this book. There are moments when Katie explains a tradition or a way of life, but it flows so smoothly with the story I hardly noticed the stopping time for Amish Culture Lessons. I am also extremely happy with the way Bickle portrayed vampires. These vampires are the real thing. These vampires are the ones Victorians feared, the kind that spread like disease, they destroyed rather than seduced, that hypnotized, that cannot enter homes or holy ground, that can only be destroyed with stakes, garlic, and a beheading. These are the very first vampires in folklore, and they are fearsome.

What’s fantastic is that Katie, and the Outsider Alex, rarely describes the vampires’ appearances. They are called “things” and “monsters” and “the Darkness.” Katie can see they were once human, but their movements, behavior, and red eyes show the most base, evil instinct of humanity: literal blood lust and desire to kill. She is awed, shocked, and frozen in fear, her mind incapable of looking at something that appears to be human and seeing such evil.

That is a true a proper gothic vampire and gothic reaction. I applaud Bickle. I applaud her for making me  afraid of the dark this week, for making me happy that I’m not living near cornfields now, and for bringing terrifying vampires back into young adult literature.

Book Review: “The Raven Boys” by Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater 

Publisher: Scholastic
Publishing Date: September 2012
Genre: young adult, fantasy, gothic
ISBN: 9780545424929
Goodreads: 4.08
Rating: ★★★

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

Gansey is on a quest to raise Glendower, a Welsh king with the mythical legend akin to King Arthur, from the dead. He has wealth, privilege, and intelligence, as well as a group of friends who strongly believe in the supernatural. Together, their heartbreak and sorrow spur them on this quest; they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Blue, daughter of a psychic and cursed to kill her true love with a kiss, is drawn to these Raven boys, and can’t help but stumble into their adventure. But when the boys’ past begins to haunt them, and time bends out of shape, they wonder if this quest for Glendower is worth the risk…and inevitable death.

To read this book, one needs to suspend disbelief. It is a fantasy of sorts set in the real world. There are no wizards and dragons, but a very strong faith in ghosts and legends. Psychic powers are strengthened in Henrietta due to the ley lines, where Gansey believes Glendower resides and where Blue knows the soon-to-be-dead walk to the afterlife. Years of research steeped in lore spur these characters on.

At first I had difficulty finding this entertaining — the reactions to time stopping, to seasons changing in minutes, and to visions of the future weren’t as surprised as I’d expected. Rather, these characters seemed completely at ease instead of shaken. Too calm. But as the reader delves into the mind of each character, learning about their history and why they have such faith in finding something only spoken about in legend, they became more real. These boys are fully-fleshed characters with a dire need to prove themselves. Ronan comes from a broken family; Noah is the epitome of death; Adam is abused; and Gansey tries to solve everything with money, even though he doesn’t like those principles. They have nothing to lose in finding Glendower, and their desperation increases as events spiral out of control.

The ending was rushed and jarring, and certainly ends on a steep cliffhanger. Thankfully the second book will be out in September 2013.

Book Review: “The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Publisher: Anchor
Publishing Date: September 2011
Genre: fantasy, gothic, historical fiction
ISBN: 9780307744432
Goodreads: 3.99
Rating: ★★★★★

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them both, this is a game in which only one can be left standing. Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance.

Two magical schools of philosophy are at war: the alchemical, charming, scholarly side versus the natural, inborn talent. If put in a competition with only one competitor left standing, which school of thought would win? Two magicians, Prospero and Alexander, pluck two young children, Celia and Marco, to battle. But everything changes once the venue is created for them: Le Cirque des Reves. The circus is not simply a place to compete; it becomes a part of Celia and Marco, another half of their beings, another limb, a soul itself. When Celia and Marco fall in love, the consequences for everyone involved could be disastrous.

I have never come across a book that has left me as enchanted as this. The whole experience was a dream. The luxurious language, the confectionery sweets, the lush descriptions, the stark contrast of black and white with splashes of red, the vibrancy of the characters, the fierce competition, the free-falling into the unknown. It was nothing short of magical.

Morgenstern incorporates fantasy with reality, turns a battle of the mind into action, gothic essence into a deeply timeless story. This is more than love. This is more than magic. It’s about all the lives in-between. She allows the reader to jump across countries and oceans, from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, from one perspective to another. We’re in the minds of Widget and Poppet, the mysterious and talented circus twins; of Chandresh, the planner and financial backing to the circus; of Isobel, a tarot-reader in love with Marco and in control of the perfect balance of the circus; of Tsukiko, the contortionist who subtly points out the mysterious idiosyncrasies of the environment. We experience each and every tent with Bailey and Friedrick, attendees and reveurs, and gaze at the still human statue Snow Queen, wander the Ice Garden, sit in awe watching the illusionist. And, of course, the heart-wrenching and exhilarating journey Marco and Celia take to overcome the rules of the challenge and find a way to be together.

An absolutely enchanting piece of work that I will read time and time again!

Edit: I wrote this a few weeks ago and apparently it never published! So here you go!

Book Review: “A Great and Terrible Beauty” by Libba Bray

[This is a re-read for a graduate class project.]

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

Publisher: Ember
Publishing Date: 2003
Genre: young adult, fantasy, gothic, history
Goodreads: 3.77
Rating: ★★★

It’s 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma’s reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she’s been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence’s most powerful girls—and their foray into the spiritual world—lead to?

Welcome to the realms, a place where dreams and nightmares can come true.

It’s late Victorian England, when British citizens exerted their imperial power abroad and technology has yet to rock the foundation of their world. Dickens has published, Tennyson is praised, and girls are still required to prep for their season. Gemma, a rather headstrong and independent girl for her time, is sent to boarding school after her mother’s horrible death. With each girl she meets, secrets build, and visions occur more rapidly. A young Indian man, Kartik, threatens her repeatedly for succumbing to the visions, but offers no help or guidance to close off the realms. As Gemma befriends Ann, a scholarship student, Felicity, a navy admiral’s daughter, and Pippa, a beautiful but doomed daughter of a merchant family, they are bound by a secret so strong their lives could be in jeopardy.

What Bray does so well with this first book in a trilogy is the suspense, uncanny, and horror qualities that mimic gothic novels. She captures the tone of popular works in that particular time period. The haunts of a girls’ boarding school, the architecture, a mysterious fire, magic, incorporation of literature, undiscovered documents, a slow and suspenseful plot — all of it is brilliant gothic.

Bray also creates a very modern voice for Gemma. It’s quite believable! Gemma, on the outside, is the typical teenage Victorian girl, standing straight, lacing her corsets, working hard on her studies, aware that her one and only job is to land a husband. She understands “keeping up appearances.” It’s her inner voice that makes her stand out. It makes me wonder if girls were truly like this in the Victorian age. She’ll say one thing out loud like a proper young lady, but in her mind she’s snarky, witty, wishing to rebel against society’s rules and restraints on women.

And this is why, even after all the threats Kartik gives her, she’s curious about her visions, about the realms. Everything is pure and wonderful and she is liberated for the first time in her life. But this sort of freedom, even the magical sort, has dire consequences.

The realms are tricky to describe. To get there by will, it takes a portal of light. Once through, anything one wishes will come true. An evil spirit has taken over the realms, though, and temptations are everywhere for Gemma, Felicity, Ann, and Pippa. One bite of the realm’s magical fruit and they will be lost there forever. Despite this, it’s a bit of a heaven for the girls. They are liberated. Anything they dream up becomes real. In short, the realms are the dreamland. The girls become so caught up in its magic that daily life no longer has meaning for them; they would rather live in a fantasy.

As I have read the entire trilogy, I know what happens in the second and third books. Overall, the trilogy deserves a 4-star rating — it’s true historically, the world of the realms is expanded, and Gemma becomes stronger with each passing chapter — but for a first book, this is a 3. It’s good, I enjoyed it, but it truly is simply an introduction of what’s to come. It cannot work as a stand-alone.

Byron Treasure Found — The Independent

Byron treasure found in gift to used bookshop — The Independent – Paul Gallagher

Now a donation to the second-hand bookshop at Harewood House, in Yorkshire, has provided a unique insight into the Leigh family history and Augusta’s place in one of the biggest scandals to rock Georgian society. Although condemned to poverty for the last 33 years of her life, Augusta, the only daughter of Amelia Osborne and John “Mad Jack” Byron, the poet’s father, retained a passion for reading. Her rediscovered literary treasures, inscribed by Augusta and members of her family, belonged to a woman in her 80s who had had them for 40 years without realising their provenance. She acquired the books with a London house in the 1970s Ω the bookshelves were too large to move, so the seller left them, and their contents, behind.

Volunteers at the bookshop were intrigued by an inscription in The Literary Life and Correspondence of the Countess of Blessington, reading: “Augusta Leigh, St James’ Palace.”

“That raised my eyebrows,” said Audrey Kingsnorth, the Harewood volunteer who led the research. “I had no idea who Augusta was… That’s when I started looking into the family and saw the [Byron] connection.”

I think the funny part is that the donor was so excited about what the volunteers told her that she donated more rare books (Lilliputian books, small volumes to show off printers’ ability).

ARC Book Review: “The Secret Keeper” by Kate Morton

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

Release Date: October 16
Publisher: Atria Books
ISBN: 9781439152805
Goodreads: —
Rating: ★★★★★

During a summer party at the family farm in the English countryside, sixteen-year-old Laurel Nicolson has escaped to her childhood tree house and is happily dreaming of the future. She spies a stranger coming up the long road to the farm and watches as her mother speaks to him. Before the afternoon is over, Laurel will witness a shocking crime. A crime that challenges everything she knows about her family and especially her mother, Dorothy — her vivacious, loving, nearly perfect mother.

Now, fifty years later, Laurel is a successful and well-regarded actress living in London. The family is gathering at Greenacres farm for Dorothy’s ninetieth birthday. Realizing that this may be her last chance, Laurel searches for answers to the questions that still haunt her from that long-ago day, answers that can only be found in Dorothy’s past. Dorothy’s story takes the reader from pre-WWII England through the blitz, to the ’60s and beyond. It is the secret history of three strangers from vastly different worlds — Dorothy, Vivien, and Jimmy — who meet by chance in wartime London and whose lives are forever entwined.

Moved to tears. Kate Morton’s artistic style becomes more and more polished with each book. I am deeply thankful and incredibly delighted to have been given this opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. She is one of my favorite authors, and this has easily been marked as one of my favorites this year.

True to her readers’ expectations, Morton’s slow-building, deeply woven, neo-gothic style continues in this novel, moving towards the middle of the twentieth century and out of Victorian / Edwardian England. Here we meet a range of characters in special circumstances: Dorothy, a young woman in love with Jimmy and obsessed with fantasy; Jimmy, an honorable and good man with incredible photographic talent; Vivien, an orphan with an inheritance, trapped in a gilded cage; Henry, a twisted man with a gift for words; and Laurel, the daughter on the hunt to discover the story behind a crime she witnessed.

With every chapter — each ending on a cliffhanger, I might add — Laurel discovers more about her mother’s history, and her mother’s history is revealed to the reader. The narrative jumps back and forth, starting in 1941, jumping to 2011, and then the late 1930s onward. Snippets of a puzzle begins to form, with some pieces that seem plausible to fitting in the right place and yet leave more questions than answers. Something is very wrong with Dorothy, her connection to Jimmy and Vivien, and her link to her future with her several children and the happy life she lived. Pieces do not quite match up. Bit by bit, the story unfolds, suspicion rises, and the final chapters hit with a bang.

I love stories like this. The antiquated feeling that neo-gothicism brings, the unraveling of a family history, the twists and turns and shocking revelations, the search for identity within an identity. I cannot wait for the rest of the world to read this book! I want to discuss it, but anything I say may spoil your enjoyment of discovery!

Upcoming Books! [32]

Title: The Distance Between Us
Author: Reyna Grande
Genre: memoir, biography
Publisher: Atria Books
Publishing Date: August 28
Summary: When Reyna Grande’s father leaves his wife and three children behind in a village in Mexico to make the dangerous trek across the border to the United States, he promises he will soon return from “El Otro Lado” (The Other Side) with enough money to build them a dream house where they can all live together. His promises become harder to believe as months turn into years. When he summons his wife to join him, Reyna and her siblings are deposited in the already overburdened household of their stern, unsmiling grandmother.
The three siblings are forced to look out for themselves; in childish games they find a way to forget the pain of abandonment and learn to solve very adult problems. When their mother at last returns, the reunion sets the stage for a dramatic new chapter in Reyna’s young life: her own journey to “El Otro Lado” to live with the man who has haunted her imagination for years, her long-absent father.

~

Title: The Beautiful Mystery
Author: Louise Penny
Genre: mystery, thriller
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publishing Date: August 28
Summary: No outsiders are ever admitted to the monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups, hidden deep in the wilderness of Quebec, where two dozen cloistered monks live in peace and prayer. They grow vegetables, they tend chickens, they make chocolate. And they sing. Ironically, for a community that has taken a vow of silence, the monks have become world-famous for their glorious voices, raised in ancient chants whose effect on both singer and listener is so profound it is known as “the beautiful mystery.” But when the renowned choir director is murdered, the lock on the monastery’s massive wooden door is drawn back to admit Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir of the Sûreté du Québec. There they discover disquiet beneath the silence, discord in the apparent harmony. One of the brothers, in this life of  prayer and contemplation, has been contemplating murder. As the peace of the monastery crumbles, Gamache is forced to confront some of his own demons, as well as those roaming the remote corridors. Before finding the killer, before restoring peace, the Chief must first consider the divine, the human, and the cracks in between.

~

Title: Splendors and Glooms
Author: Laura Amy Schlitz
Genre: children’s, fantasy, gothic
Publisher: Candlewick
Publishing Date: August 28
Summary: The master puppeteer, Gaspare Grisini, is so expert at manipulating his stringed puppets that they appear alive. Clara Wintermute, the only child of a wealthy doctor, is spellbound by Grisini’s act and invites him to entertain at her birthday party. Seeing his chance to make a fortune, Grisini accepts and makes a splendidly gaudy entrance with caravan, puppets, and his two orphaned assistants.
Lizzie Rose and Parsefall are dazzled by the Wintermute home. Clara seems to have everything they lack — adoring parents, warmth, and plenty to eat. In fact, Clara’s life is shadowed by grief, guilt, and secrets. When Clara vanishes that night, suspicion of kidnapping falls upon the puppeteer and, by association, Lizzie Rose and Parsefall.
As they seek to puzzle out Clara’s whereabouts, Lizzie and Parse uncover Grisini’s criminal past and wake up to his evil intentions. Fleeing London, they find themselves caught in a trap set by Grisini’s ancient rival, a witch with a deadly inheritance to shed before it’s too late.