The Mirk and Midnight Hour

Nickerson, Jane

ISBN 10: 0385752873 ISBN 13: 9780385752879

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2014

Synopsis

A Gothic thriller and captivating love story set in Civil War Mississippi
 
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 threatening powers of voodoo, Violet fights to protect her home, her family, and the man she’s begun to love.
 
“An exciting story—juicy, romantic and at times quite chilling.” —BookPage
 
“An atmospheric story in which darkness houses mysteries, [with] rich imagery and imaginative subplots.” —Kirkus Reviews
 
“Compelling. . . . There’s a languid ease to the prose that invites readers to become fully immersed.” —The Bulletin
From the Hardcover edition.

About this title

About the Author:

For many years, JANE NICKERSON and her family lived in a big old house in Aberdeen, Mississippi, where she worked as the children’s librarian at the local public library. She has always loved the South, “the olden days,” Gothic tales, houses, kids, writing, and interesting villains. Her first novel was Strands of Bronze and Gold, a retelling of the Bluebeard fairy tale. Jane and her husband recently returned to Mississippi. Visit her at Jane-Nickerson.com.
From the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal:

Gr 7 Up—Violet's life is already in turmoil after her brother dies fighting for the South in the War Between the States, but now things have been completely upended: two distant cousins are coming to stay for the summer, and her father has remarried, bringing his new wife and her daughter into their home, then leaving for the war himself. But when Violet and her younger cousin discover Thomas, a wounded Union soldier holed up in a ruin deep in the woods, things become really complicated. Nickerson retold the Bluebeard story in Strands of Bronze and Gold (Knopf, 2013), and here she recrafts the ballad of Tam Lin, setting it in Mississippi during the Civil War. Her tale is strikingly atmospheric: Violet's summer feels languid and sticky with brief moments of lightness and respite during her visits to Thomas (with whom she is falling in love despite herself). Through it all, a thrumming drumbeat of danger grows louder until reaching the wild conclusion. But while Nickerson makes the most of the setting with the book's mood, it's also her story's Achilles heel. The treatment of race is problematic: Violet's family's slave, Laney, is referred to as a "servant" and promises she won't leave, since her family and Violet's are linked. The villains are also the shadowy VanZeldts, who practice a mix of hoodoo and snake worship they learned in Africa. Fans of Nancy Werlin's Impossible (Dial, 2008), dark faeries, magical realism, historical fantasy, and star-crossed love will find plenty to enjoy here.—Gretchen Kolderup, New York Public Library

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0385752873
• ISBN 13: 9780385752879
• Binding: Library Binding
• Number of pages: 384