A Cloud of Outrageous Blue
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
For fans of Fever 1793 comes the story of a young woman paving her own path and falling in love during the Great Plague of 1348, from the award-winning creator of What the Night Sings.
Edyth grew up in a quiet village with a loving family, before losing everything she holds dear in the blink of an eye. Suddenly sent to live in a priory and work with ancient texts, Edyth must come to terms with her new life and the gifts she discovers in herself. But outside the priory, something much worse is coming. With the reappearance of a boy from her past and the ominous Great Plague creeping closer and closer to the priory, it will be up to Edyth to rise above it all and save herself.
From the award-winning author-illustrator of What the Night Sings comes a new journey of self-discovery and love in the most uncertain times.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Following the deaths, by murder and childbirth, of her parents in 14th-century England, Edyth le Sherman's brother arranges for the 16-year-old synesthete to become a working resident at a Yorkshire priory. Artistic Edie is reluctant to leave the familiarity of her small hometown, especially Mason, a stonemason's son with whom she shares a flirtation. Under the stern, watchful eye of Sub-Prioress Agnes de Guile, though, Edie finds joy in a new friendship and in her duties preparing pigments in the scriptorium. She also struggles to conceal two secrets: her renewed relationship with Mason, who arrives to rebuild a chapel, and her synesthesia, which causes her to associate colors with other senses and fall into a trance while grinding lapis lazuli. One day, during prayer, Edie notices a panel of stained glass in the church that shows an image from a recurring dream that has haunted her since childhood. She begins to feel "something's unfolding" and, as the Black Death begins its rampage, wonders if she's part of something bigger. Though modern language ("longest winter ever") can distract, Stamper's (What the Night Sings) dark and well-researched historical tale moves swiftly, incorporating elements of the miraculous and affectingly punctuated with elegant watercolor illustrations in hues that recall illuminated texts. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 12 up.
