by Virginia Frances Schwartz ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 8, 2019
This Dickensian #MeToo novel calls out the lingering need for women’s rights.
A teen from Victorian England regains her reputation with the help of Charles Dickens.
Sixteen-year-old Orpha has been serving out a sentence at Tothill Fields Prison. As the white teen nears the end of her sentence, Dickens interviews her for an opportunity to transition to Urania, a home for “fallen girls.” Through flashbacks and her conversations with Dickens, readers learn how Orpha lost both parents, spent time in a workhouse, and was sexually abused by the man entrusted to care for her. Even more horrific, Orpha reveals how that man remained free while she, the victim, was charged for his crimes. Once in Urania, a real halfway house that benefactor Lady Burdett-Coutts established and Dickens supervised, Orpha meets former criminals and prostitutes, also victims themselves. Here, while finishing her education and preparing for a working position in a colony, she reconciles old and new friends and a lost childhood with the resourceful, talented young woman she has become. Written in 20 chapters to mirror the installments in which Dickens released his novels, this atmospheric story is imbued with the sights, sounds, and smells (or more accurately, odors!) of 19th-century London’s rookeries, or slums. Like Dickens, author Schwartz (Crossing to Freedom, 2013, etc.) evokes the moral and political forces of the time; readers, particularly Margaret Atwood fans, will find parallels to the present.
This Dickensian #MeToo novel calls out the lingering need for women’s rights. (author’s note, glossary) (Historical fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4102-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
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by Virginia Frances Schwartz & illustrated by Christina Leist
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by Kathleen Glasgow ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 30, 2016
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression.
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New York Times Bestseller
After surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself.
Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself; her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out; her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply; and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her—who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves—Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she "like-likes" but who had pined for Ellis instead. But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a "semifamous" local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic. Through intense, diarylike chapters chronicling Charlie's journey, the author captures the brutal and heartbreaking way "girls who write their pain on their bodies" scar and mar themselves, either succumbing or surviving. Like most issue books, this is not an easy read, but it's poignant and transcendent as Charlie breaks more and more before piecing herself back together.
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-93471-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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by Holly Black ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 2, 2018
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in.
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Black is back with another dark tale of Faerie, this one set in Faerie and launching a new trilogy.
Jude—broken, rebuilt, fueled by anger and a sense of powerlessness—has never recovered from watching her adoptive Faerie father murder her parents. Human Jude (whose brown hair curls and whose skin color is never described) both hates and loves Madoc, whose murderous nature is true to his Faerie self and who in his way loves her. Brought up among the Gentry, Jude has never felt at ease, but after a decade, Faerie has become her home despite the constant peril. Black’s latest looks at nature and nurture and spins a tale of court intrigue, bloodshed, and a truly messed-up relationship that might be the saving of Jude and the titular prince, who, like Jude, has been shaped by the cruelties of others. Fierce and observant Jude is utterly unaware of the currents that swirl around her. She fights, plots, even murders enemies, but she must also navigate her relationship with her complex family (human, Faerie, and mixed). This is a heady blend of Faerie lore, high fantasy, and high school drama, dripping with description that brings the dangerous but tempting world of Faerie to life.
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-31027-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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