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The Seer of Shadows | LitPick Book Reviews
The Seer of Shadows
The Seer of Shadows
The Seer of Shadows
Avi
Newbery Medalist Avi weaves one of his most suspenseful and scary tales—about a ghost who has to be seen to be believed and must be kept from carrying out a horrifying revenge. The time is 1872. The place is New York City. Horace Carpetine has been raised to believe in science and rationality. So as apprentice to Enoch Middleditch, a society photographer, he thinks of his trade as a scientific art. But when wealthy society matron Mrs. Frederick Von Macht orders a photographic portrait, strange things begin to happen. Horace's first real photographs reveal a frightful likeness: it's the image of the Von Machts' dead daughter, Eleanora. Pegg, the Von Machts' black servant girl, then leads him to the truth about who Eleanora really was and how she actually died. Joined in friendship, Pegg and Horace soon realize that his photographs are evoking both Eleanora's image and her ghost. Eleanora returns, a vengeful wraith intent on punishing those who abused her. Rich in detail, full of the magic of early photography, here is a story about the shadows, visible and invisible, that are always lurking near.

Book Details

Genre: 

  • Fiction
  • Paranormal

Age Level: 

  • 12 and up
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APB

When Horace Carpetine, a photographer's apprentice, is outside sweeping, he meets an eerie black girl named Pegg, who needs a photograph for her mistress. She schedules an appointment and disappears into the damp, thick mist. When they arrive at the mistress's house, Mrs.Von Macht opens the door and strictly informs them that she needs a picture of herself in her house to put on her dead daughter's grave. The photographer and Horace accept and then once outside, Mr. Middleditch the photographer, has a fantastic idea. Mrs.

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