Friday, March 30, 2012

Mitchell, Sandra. The Vespertine.


Mitchell, Sandra. The Vespertine.   Harcourt Brace/Houghton Mifflin,  2011.  295p.  $16.99  ISBN 9780547482477    jr/sr E-BN      Supernatural Fiction   
     Amelia van der Broek has finally gotten an opportunity to spread her wings by attending balls, teas and parties. She is enjoying her new freedom away from her brother when she discovers that she has visions she cannot control. All goes well until one of her visions becomes a terrible tragedy. 
     Amelia lives with her brother and his wife in Maine when an invitation from a distant relative comes from Baltimore. Amelia jumps at the opportunity to go and have fun and be with girls her own age. Zora becomes an immediate friend, and together they go to parties, teas, dinners and balls. The girls are blossoming together and making good friends, and they are out looking for romance. Zora meets Thomas, the doctor’s son, and she falls in love with him. Amelia meets Nathaniel, who is the fourteenth person in a party of thirteen. He is a poor young man who paints for a living and has fallen in love with Amelia. At first Amelia is only smitten, but as time goes on she finds herself always searching for Nathaniel, who has a strange way of appearing out of nowhere when Amelia speaks his name out loud. It seems as if he rides the wind.
All is going well
, as planned, and Amelia feels like she is just blooming and very happy! Then she has her first vision!. At first it seems harmless, but gradually she discovers that sometimes the visions are harmless, but other times they bring tragedy. When Amelia is feeling most happy with everything the worst of the visions comes to pass, and with it comes the terrible feeling that a finger is pointing at her.
     Then, to her dismay, one death causes another, and with it one heartache follows another, and she finds herself no longer welcome in Zora’s house, and she is returned back to Maine.  Her return seems like a death sentence, but even in Maine surprises can happen.
Subject: Baltimore Society -- 1900 - Paranormal - Romance   .
Magna Diaz
 

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