Publishers Weekly
After too long of an absence, Billingsley (The Folk Keeper) returns with the quirky but rich tale of 17-year-old Briony, who is convinced that she's a witch. Not only is Briony responsible for her twin sister Rose's disabling fall from a swing years earlier, causing brain-damage, she also believes she caused her stepmother's death. The 20th century has arrived in backwater Swampsea, England, and with it such wonders as railroads, motorcars, and pumping stations to drain the bog. But the supernatural Old Ones are unhappy with technology and have sent a fever to punish the children of Swampsea, including Rose. Desperate to save her sister's life, Briony is torn between her painful belief in her own irredeemably evil nature and her attraction to handsome, newly arrived bad boy Eldric Clayborne. "How could I bear it, Eldric living with us, this non-child, this boy-man? I'd have to keep on my Briony mask.... I'd have to keep my tongue sharp and amusing. Already I was exhausted." Filled with eccentric characters—self-hating Briony foremost—and oddly beautiful language, this is a darkly beguiling fantasy. Ages 12–up. (Mar.)
From the Publisher
A National Book Award Finalist
"Part mystery, part fantasy, this beautifully-written page turner explores guilt, mercy, and love."—New York Times bestselling author Holly Black
★ “A darkly beguiling fantasy.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
★ "Billingsley takes the time to develop a layered narrative adorned with linguistic filigree—she is one of the great prose stylists of the field.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
★ “Exquisite to the final word.”—Booklist, starred review
★ “Both lushly sensual and shivery.”—School Library Journal, starred review
★ “Extraordinary and moving.”—BCCB, starred review
★ “An entirely original concoction.”—The Horn Book, starred review
School Library Journal
Gr 7 Up—Born precisely at midnight, that eldritch hour between one day and the next, Briony has always been a bit fey. But it isn't until her twin sister, Rose, is hurt while they are swinging together and her stepmother is tragically crippled in a freak accident that Briony comes to believe that she is a witch, doomed to end her life dangling from the hangman's noose. She only begins to hope that she might not be quite as wicked and damned as she had thought when she is befriended by a newcomer to the village, a beautiful boy with leonine grace and electric eyes. The magnificently dark romantic setting and lovely, lyrical language and imagery enhance a novel that is both lushly sensual and shivery. Billingsley's YA debut is a memorable one.—Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage Public Library, AK
MAY 2011 - AudioFile
Seventeen-year-old Briony Larkin believes she’s a witch who has destroyed her twin sister Rose’s mind and killed her stepmother. Her ability to commune with the mystical Old Ones of the Swampsea fills her with self-hatred. When handsome London bad boy Eldric arrives on the scene, Briony must reexamine what she has for so long assumed to be true. Billingsley’s richly atmospheric landscape and opulent language are well served by Susan Duerden’s lush vocal interpretation. The eerie voices of the Old Ones are as believable as the voices of the townsfolk. Each character has a uniquely perfect voice—from the sardonic Briony to her whiny suitor, Cecil. Rose’s mental disorder is obvious but never exaggerated. A tour-de-force performance of this elegant, mysterious novel. S.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2012 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
