Lauren Oliver (Before I Fall; Delirium) transports readers to a Dickensian world and introduces orphans Liesl and Will, a touch of magic, some delectable coincidences and friendship that stretches from the Living Side to the Other Side.
On the third night after her father's death, Liesl meets a ghost named Po (neither boy nor girl), who crosses from the Other Side with a pet called Bundle (neither cat nor dog). Po has come to ask Liesl a question: "Why did you stop drawing?" The girl tells Po that she didn't get to say goodbye to her father, and asks Po to carry a message to him on the Other Side. Po agrees to try, but in return, Liesl must make Po a drawing. Will, the alchemist's apprentice who stands unseen beneath Liesl's window most nights, has also noted Liesl's absence. But on this night, he is rewarded for his efforts. Seeing the girl back at the window, Will "vowed suddenly that he would never let anything bad happen to [her].... He had some vague idea that it would be terrible for himself."
This kind of tantalizing foreshadowing is just one way that Oliver skillfully emulates Dickens. She also uses coincidence masterfully: secondary characters with an overlapping past, near misses between villains and heroes, and the unwitting switch of two bread loaf–shaped wooden boxes that leads to Will and Liesl's eventual meeting. This book's healing message will offer comfort to children living with the absence of a loved one, and its swift plotting will sweep them up in the adventure. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness