So closely does this follow The Ghost Belonged to Me (1975) that at times Peck's sequel on Second Sight verges on déja vu. Once again there's a child-ghost in trouble and once again an eccentric oldster steps in to take Alexander and Blossom on exotic travels. But no matter. This is still a blithe and spirited occult comedy with fewer genuine spooky moments but plenty of out-and-out belly laughs. Plucky Blossom Culp, Bluff City social outcast, in 1914, starts out as a mystic manqué tricking gullible classmates, but then suddenly she starts having honest-to-goodness visions: first of a car accident, then strange flashforwards (even one of the moon landing), and finally a trip back twenty months in time to relive the watery demise of a British boy who sank on the Titanic. For Blossom—and readers—it's a night to remember. She becomes a local celebrity: "Blossom Culp—Pintsize Prophetess," advertises the Chamber of Commerce. ("Her spirit may roam but she calls Bluff City home"). And in the company of dotty Miss Dabney and old pal Alexander, Blossom sails to London where she's immortalized at Mme. Tussaud's and pays a visit to the Queen. Never one for false modesty (on page one Blossom bills herself as "the most famous girl in two countries"), Peck's heroine proves to be such a redoubtable "Seeress" that despite the extravagant self-promotion, she just about manages to live up to the hype.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1977
ISBN: 0141310960
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1977
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An enticing, turbulent, and satisfying final voyage.
Adrian, the youngest of the Montague siblings, sails into tumultuous waters in search of answers about himself, the sudden death of his mother, and her mysterious, cracked spyglass.
On the summer solstice less than a year ago, Caroline Montague fell off a cliff in Aberdeen into the sea. When the Scottish hostel where she was staying sends a box of her left-behind belongings to London, Adrian—an anxious, White nobleman on the cusp of joining Parliament—discovers one of his mother’s most treasured possessions, an antique spyglass. She acquired it when she was the sole survivor of a shipwreck many years earlier. His mother always carried that spyglass with her, but on the day of her death, she had left it behind in her room. Although he never knew its full significance, Adrian is haunted by new questions and is certain the spyglass will lead him to the truth. Once again, Lee crafts an absorbing adventure with dangerous stakes, dynamic character growth, sharp social and political commentary, and a storm of emotion. Inseparable from his external search for answers about his mother, Adrian seeks a solution for himself, an end to his struggle with mental illness—a journey handled with hopeful, gentle honesty that validates the experiences of both good and bad days. Characters from the first two books play significant secondary roles, and the resolution ties up their loose ends. Humorous antics provide a well-measured balance with the heavier themes.
An enticing, turbulent, and satisfying final voyage. (Historical fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-291601-3
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2021
A rare second volume that surpasses the first, with, happily, more intrigue and passion still to come.
A heady blend of courtly double-crossing, Faerie lore, and toxic attraction swirls together in the sequel to The Cruel Prince (2018).
Five months after engineering a coup, human teen Jude is starting to feel the strain of secretly controlling King Cardan and running his Faerie kingdom. Jude’s self-loathing and anger at the traumatic events of her childhood (her Faerie “dad” killed her parents, and Faerie is not a particularly easy place even for the best-adjusted human) drive her ambition, which is tempered by her desire to make the world she loves and hates a little fairer. Much of the story revolves around plotting (the Queen of the Undersea wants the throne; Jude’s Faerie father wants power; Jude’s twin, Taryn, wants her Faerie betrothed by her side), but the underlying tension—sexual and political—between Jude and Cardan also takes some unexpected twists. Black’s writing is both contemporary and classic; her world is, at this point, intensely well-realized, so that some plot twists seem almost inevitable. Faerie is a strange place where immortal, multihued, multiformed denizens can’t lie but can twist everything; Jude—who can lie—is an outlier, and her first-person, present-tense narration reveals more than she would choose. With curly dark brown hair, Jude and Taryn are never identified by race in human terms.
A rare second volume that surpasses the first, with, happily, more intrigue and passion still to come. (map) (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-316-31035-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2018
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