The Girl Who Would Speak for the Dead
Paul Elwork - Author
ISBN 9780399157172 | 320 pages | 31 Mar 2011 | Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam | 9.25 x 6.25in | 18 - AND UP
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Summary of The Girl Who Would Speak for the Dead
Summary of The Girl Who Would Speak for the Dead
Reviews for The Girl Who Would Speak for the Dead
An Excerpt from The Girl Who Would Speak for the Dead
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The innocence of childhood,
"A debut novel about 13-year-old twins, Emily and Michael, who live on a large estate that borders the Delaware River. the unknown of adulthood, and the search for forgiveness . . . Emily Stewart is the girl who claims to stand between the living and the dead. During the quiet summer of 1925, she and her brother, Michael, are thirteen-year-old twins-privileged, precocious, wandering aimlessly around their family's estate. One day, Emily discovers that she can secretly crack her ankle in such a way that a sound appears to burst through the stillness of midair. Emily and Michael gather the neighborhood children to fool them with these "spirit knockings." Soon, however, this game of contacting the dead creeps into a world of adults still reeling from World War I. When the twins find themselves dabbling in the uncertain territory of human grief and family secrets- knock, knock-everything spins wildly out of control. The year is 1925 and the twins' father, a wealthy doctor who was something of a hero, is dead. He died in the service of his country while in France, trying to save the lives of American troops injured in battle during the war. The two children thrive on stories of their father, doled out by their mother, Naomi, and the family's only live-in help, Mary. The twins want for nothing but perhaps a little excitement, which they find in an odd and disturbing way: Emily discovers a talent she cannot explain. She can make an odd sound using her ankle bones. Soon, she and Michael employ her talent; they pretend that Emily can talk to the spirit of one of their ancestors. Regina, who died mysteriously from drowning in the Delaware while still a teenager, becomes the focus of the twins' seances, to which they invite impressionable young friends. Their sessions soon grow increasingly elaborate and before they know it, they are performing for adults, a feat Michael savors, but Emily finds more and more uncomfortable with each lie she tells. In the meantime, Emily has been piecing together her own family's history, reaching back to the days when her forbears moved from a plantation in Virginia to their present home, and discovering family secrets planted along the way. While her mother reacquaints herself with an old friend, Emily digs into the past and finds a family she never knew existed. Meanwhile, the ghost sessions become more serious and disturbing, leaving Emily with the uncomfortable impression that she and Michael have been opening doors that should have remained closed. An intricate yet beautifully told story that is less about ghosts and more about secrets and how destructive they can be." -Kirkus |
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