Dream Spinner - Hardcover

Hoppe, Joanne

3.82

22 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688085598 ISBN 13: 9780688085599

Publisher: William Morrow & Co, 1992

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Teenager Mary Barrone risks permanently losing her real life to travel back in time to the 1890s, when her family's rundown mansion was inhabited by a famous playwright and his beautiful wife, who adopt her as their niece.

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From School Library Journal:

Grade 8-10-- A multilayered fantasy, this imagi native novel will intrigue readers. Mary, a shy tenth-grader struggling to adjust to a new home and stepfamily, discovers that she can travel through time in her dreams. In visits to the past, she takes on the personality of Chris tabel, the young niece of the previousowners of her house. Gradually, Mary becomes obsessed with dreaming, neglecting both schoolwork and family obligations. Hoppe handles past and present events and relationships in a believable fashion and effectively creates suspense as Mary gets caught up in the world of 1890. Eventually, conflict between Christabel's aunt and uncle erupts, thrusting Mary back into real life so abruptly that she becomes seriously ill. The love and support of her family help her to recover, although she is clearly affected by her experiences. Despite the complex plot, the sto ry flows smoothly, and Mary's struggles to cope with changing family dynamics do not overwhelm the action. Major and minor charac ters are well drawn and generally appealing. A well-written tale that will be enjoyed by thoughtful readers. --Lisa Dennis, The Carne gie Library of Pittsburgh
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

Mary Barrone's imagination is captured by an article about a technique that allows dreamers to control the content of their dreams. Unwilling to confront her feelings about her father remarrying, the 15-year-old uses her dreams to travel back to the 1890s. There, in lushly romantic fantasy sequences, she falls in love with a dashing playwright. At first Mary is ecstatic about this secret world, but slowly her idyllic phantasmagoria turns ugly as she is swept into a tangled triangle. Hoppe's suspenseful, dexterously written novel abounds with shimmering imagery and powerful emotions. Particularly well handled is the interplay between the understated, mundane conflicts in Mary's real family and the highly charged dissension played out in her dream world. Best of all, Hoppe leaves it to the reader to decide if it was all just a dream or if Mary really did journey back in time. This ambiguity serves both to stimulate the reader's imagination and to elevate this work above a mere problem-solving novel. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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