Some people have space within them, perfect for hiding. Sometimes, when a person dies, their spirit goes looking for somewhere to hide. Makepeace’s evolving relationships with the ghosts embodied within her are fascinating and moving (differentiated fonts make these internal conversations easy to follow), highlighting her growing compassion despite being given few reasons to trust anyone in her young life. Kindle 7.97 Rate this book A Skinful of Shadows Frances Hardinge 3.98 8,168 ratings1,266 reviews This is the story of a bear-hearted girl. Her storytelling is visceral and unfurls at an exciting pace, making this novel a wonderful, weird and terrifying addition to her body of work. Hardinge, whose The Lie Tree was the 2015 Costa Book of the Year, crafts a delicious combination of historical adventure, coming-of-age tale, and supernatural intrigue, set amid power struggles that reshaped 17th-century England. The Guardian A Skinful of Shadows is outlandishly creative and thoroughly blood-chilling. Thanks to her Fellmotte lineage, Makepeace comes to harbor several spirits within her, and she takes on as many external personas-servant, spy, medic, prophet-as she attempts to escape (and eventually bring down) the Fellmottes, who see her little more than a vessel. Frances Hardinge weaves a dark, otherworldly tale in A Skinful of Shadows, her first book since the Costa Award-winning The Lie Tree. To do so, she travels to Grizehayes, the ancestral home of the father she never knew, where she learns that the aristocratic Fellmottes are able to possess ghosts within them, bringing them preternatural knowledge and strength.

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As the English Civil War gains momentum, a girl named Makepeace Lightfoot attempts to uncover the shadowy secrets of her family history after her mother is killed. A Skinful of Shadows (Kindle Edition) Published September 21st 2017 by Macmillan Childrens Books.

A skinful of shadows frances hardinge