A Skinful of Shadows

Product Information

The reality is there are many books with ghosts in them that are not scary at all. They all have engrossing plotlines and read like any other good paranormal fantasy. These books have equal number of fans who want to enjoy the paranormal but do not want the usual scare, blood and gore. Perhaps in response to the Puritan elements in the story, Hardinge’s language in this novel is less elaborate than it has been, resulting in a cleaner, sharper diction. There are many wonderful moments that have the unmistakable Hardinge tang. Makepeace accidentally absorbs the ghost of a bear, symbolising both the uncontrollable id that she must subdue and the violence threatening to tear apart the country in “surprising zigzags”. She develops a deep rapport with her beastly fellow traveller, but often it’s “like reasoning with a thundercloud”. As in the other book I read by this author, I’m very much impressed with the atmosphere she conjured. The world created here is simultaneously familiar through the (accurate) historic setting and fantastical through the ghost element; the blurring of the lines was done splendidly. Just like the feel of the battlefield and danger of discovery.

Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge - Pan Macmillan Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge - Pan Macmillan

of the Best Supernatural Fantasy Books for Tweens | SpookShelf on The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman Review This time we are in the mid-17th century England, in the middle of the English Civil War between the King and the Parliament, the Puritans and the Royalists. ( “Give a man a sword and pistol,’ said Helen, ‘and leave him hungry for a few weeks, and everybody will start to look like the enemy.”) Young Makepeace Lightfoot, a daughter of a single mother in a Puritan village, learns early on to guard herself against ghosts who, as everyone knows, are aiming to invade you and set shop in your head. After losing her mother in London riots, she is taken in by her father’s rich family as a servant — and perhaps as something else, something more and infinitely terrifying.Ocr tesseract 5.0.0-alpha-20201231-10-g1236 Ocr_detected_lang en Ocr_detected_lang_conf 1.0000 Ocr_detected_script Latin Ocr_detected_script_conf 0.9590 Ocr_module_version 0.0.13 Ocr_parameters -l eng Old_pallet IA-NS-2000352 Openlibrary_edition The Best Most Epic Fantasy Series of All Times on 5 Reasons That Make Discworld one of the Best Fantasy Series Ever I didn’t know what to expect with Skinful, which perhaps made my creeping realization of being in the wrong story all the more uncomfortable. It begins with a young girl, Makepeace, feeling her way through her outsider status in a small village. It turns out that the village is populated with Puritans who looks askance at a single mother. One day Mother starts leaving her in the local cemetery so she can learn to use her skills.

A Skinful of Shadows - Historical Association A Skinful of Shadows - Historical Association

I loved The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge, and had high hopes for her next offering. I wasn't disappointed. This was the perfect blend of history, magical realism and dark fantasy. Later on in the book she finds out about a brother she did not know she had and they go on all sorts of adventures together. A spirit finds its way into her mind and she battles to keep it hidden because she fears what would happen if someone was to find out. As well as keeping this huge secret she still manages to live an almost regular life of a girl her age. Makepeace, the main character, faces many challenges in the book put pulls through and reaches her goals. Her and her spirit companion stay together until the end of the book and have a long lasting beautiful friendship built on love and trust. Sometimes, when a person dies, their spirit goes looking for somewhere to hide. Some people have space within them, perfect for hiding. Makepeace and her mother live in a puritan village in England just prior to the English Civil War. From a young age Makepeace is trained to protect herself in a very strange way: her mother has her sleep in the village graveyard overnight to force her to learn to defend herself against the ghosts that she senses there. The ability that makes her able to see ghosts also makes her the perfect target for possession by them, something that she finds out all about when a traumatic event leaves her possessed by the spirit of a beast. But the beast may be all that can save her when she encounters her father's family, many of whom also have the gift. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2023-01-12 13:45:53 Boxid IA40146105 Camera USB PTP Class Camera Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier

Mother was like this sometimes. Conversations became riddles with traps in them, and your answers had consequences.”