Synopsis
A teenage girl
calls her beloved older brother back from the grave with disastrous
consequences.
Dashiell Bohnacker was hell on his family while he was alive. But it's even worse now that he's dead....
After her troubled older brother, Dashiell, dies of an overdose, sixteen-year-old Ruby is overcome by grief and longing. What she doesn't know is that Dashiell's ghost is using her nightly dreams of him as a way to possess her body and to persuade her twin brother, Everett, to submit to possession as well.
Dashiell tells Everett that he's returned from the Land of the Dead to tie up loose ends, but he's actually on the run from forces crueler and more powerful than anything the Bohnacker twins have ever imagined....
Dashiell Bohnacker was hell on his family while he was alive. But it's even worse now that he's dead....
After her troubled older brother, Dashiell, dies of an overdose, sixteen-year-old Ruby is overcome by grief and longing. What she doesn't know is that Dashiell's ghost is using her nightly dreams of him as a way to possess her body and to persuade her twin brother, Everett, to submit to possession as well.
Dashiell tells Everett that he's returned from the Land of the Dead to tie up loose ends, but he's actually on the run from forces crueler and more powerful than anything the Bohnacker twins have ever imagined....
Praise for WHEN
I CAST YOUR SHADOW
"Tragic and engrossing, filled with nightmarish dreamscapes and menacing villains, it also treads the tender terrain of family, and the strange and sometimes dysfunctional ties between siblings. Highly recommended!" ―Kendare Blake, New York Times bestselling author of Three Dark Crowns
"You'll never think of your nightmares the same way again. Darkly seductive. Sarah Porter’s writing glitters and her storytelling stuns in this twisted tale of siblings, love, and death." ―Stephanie Garber, New York Times bestselling author of Caraval
"Porter offers a poignant consideration of how far we will go for the people we love." ―School Library Journal, starred review
"A wildly innovative, whip-smart, and utterly spellbinding testament to family, memory, and love―and the messes and miracles of each―poised to possess legions of readers." ―Booklist, starred review
"A haunting tale of possession that explores the ghostly landscape of dreams and nightmares―but more importantly, the particular dynamics among siblings, both oppressive and redemptive." ―Kirkus Reviews
"Tragic and engrossing, filled with nightmarish dreamscapes and menacing villains, it also treads the tender terrain of family, and the strange and sometimes dysfunctional ties between siblings. Highly recommended!" ―Kendare Blake, New York Times bestselling author of Three Dark Crowns
"You'll never think of your nightmares the same way again. Darkly seductive. Sarah Porter’s writing glitters and her storytelling stuns in this twisted tale of siblings, love, and death." ―Stephanie Garber, New York Times bestselling author of Caraval
"Porter offers a poignant consideration of how far we will go for the people we love." ―School Library Journal, starred review
"A wildly innovative, whip-smart, and utterly spellbinding testament to family, memory, and love―and the messes and miracles of each―poised to possess legions of readers." ―Booklist, starred review
"A haunting tale of possession that explores the ghostly landscape of dreams and nightmares―but more importantly, the particular dynamics among siblings, both oppressive and redemptive." ―Kirkus Reviews
EXCERPT:
“You have a task in front of you, Ruby
Slippers, if you want me ever to forgive you for this extraordinary violation.
You will walk away. You will not speak one word or turn or try to look at me.
You do not have my permission to see me like this. You do not have my
permission to remember what happened here today. You will return to your life
as a good little girl, and you will keep your image of me as bright and clean
and blazing as a supernova. Nod.”
I nodded. Dusk mingled with
the snow. I still couldn’t completely take it in, though: that this was really
him and not just in my head; that he truly would force me to leave, after
months apart, without ever holding him or gazing at his face. The cuff of his
leather jacket rubbed my neck as he pulled his hand from my mouth. For a long
moment we stayed like that, our feet sunk in slush and dirty water crying into
our faces, both of us breathing hard. Maybe Dash was checking to see if I would
break his rules and speak, but I didn’t. I was too stunned, even if I’d wanted
to.
“I think you’re ready to go
now, Miss Slippers. I think you can emerge from this detour into foulness with
your heart still pure. Remember not to look at me. Look now, and I swear you’ll
never see me again.” He leaned sideways
and kissed me: a slow kiss on the edge of my cheekbone, so that a single scroll
of his filthy hair wavered in the corner of my eye.
Then he let me go, stepping
deeper into the alley, and I made myself walk away from him. His presence
exerted an overwhelming gravity all over my nape and skull, and I stumbled from
the longing to run back to him, but I knew I couldn’t give in. He’d meant what
he said and I had to fight the weight of his closeness, to grab hold of the
nearest corner and pull myself around it and back onto the street. I walked for
the next half block with my eyes closed and my fingertips trailing along the
wall, to stop myself from glancing around. It was only when I nearly tripped on
a crack that I let myself see again.
The air was full of indigo
dust and a thousand moons were falling.
Copyright
© 2017 by Sarah Porter
ABOUT THE
AUTHOR
SARAH PORTER is the author of the Lost Voices
Trilogy (Lost Voices, Waking Storms, The Twice Lost) in addition to
Vassa in the Night—all for the teen audience. For over ten years she has taught
creative writing workshops in New York City public schools to students in
grades K-10. Porter also works as a VJ, both solo and with the art collective
Fort/Da; she has played venues including Roseland, Galapagos, Tonic, Joe’s Pub,
The Hammerstein Ballroom, The Nokia Theater, and the Burning Man festival. She
lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two cats.
Photo Content
from Sarah Porter
0 comments:
Post a Comment