The Amber Beads

When sixteen-year-old Julie inherits the contents of her great grandmother’s Michigan farmhouse, she has no idea what awaits her—except for piles and piles of hoarded junk. However, after fiddling with an amber necklace she discovers in a locked room, she finds herself suddenly whisked back in time to the court of the last ruling Romanovs and a Russia in the midst of World War I. As the events of 1917 kindle a flame that becomes the roar of revolution, they not only touch her life and that of her new family, but force her to cope with new ways of seeing the world, her cultural heritage, and even the complications of a unique and complicated love. And how—or will—she make it back to the present?

Judith A. Rypma, who teaches Children's and Young Adultliterature at Western Michigan University, is also a well-known poet andRussian Studies expert who has just completed her 30th trip toRussia. Her previous poetry collections include Looking for the Amber Room, AmberNotes, and Worshipping at Lenin'sMausoleum. This is her first published novel.