Tuesday, March 11, 2014

"The Mirk and Midnight Hour"

New from Knopf Books for Young Readers: The Mirk and Midnight Hour by Jane Nickerson.

About the book, from the publisher:

A Southern girl. A wounded soldier. A chilling force deep in the forest.

All collide at night’s darkest hour.


Seventeen-year-old Violet Dancey has been left at home in Mississippi with a laudanum-addicted stepmother and love-crazed stepsister while her father fights in the war—a war that has already claimed her twin brother.

When she comes across a severely injured Union soldier lying in an abandoned lodge deep in the woods, things begin to change. Thomas is the enemy—one of the men who might have killed her own brother—and yet she's drawn to him. But Violet isn't Thomas's only visitor; someone has been tending to his wounds—keeping him alive—and it becomes chillingly clear that this care hasn't been out of compassion.

Against the dangers of war and ominous powers of voodoo, Violet must fight to protect her home and the people she loves.

From the author of Strands of Bronze and Gold comes a haunting love story and suspenseful thriller based on the ancient fairy tale of “Tam Lin.”
Visit Jane Nickerson's website.

--Marshal Zeringue