A Skinful of Shadows

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I would give this story 5 stars for its exhilarating storyline, sudden plot twists and amazing detail. Makepeace's name is also a very common puritan style name as we are told that it represent 'making peace' with the community. There was an element of beauty in the detail of the story, however; many descriptions of the more thrilling events left me wanting more extremity. When a little toddler’s family is killed one night by a mysterious man named Jack, he is adopted and cared for by ghosts at the nearby Graveyard.

A Skinful of Shadows - Frances Hardinge A Skinful of Shadows - Frances Hardinge

But I guess it does not matter because I enjoyed this book and never felt that it had some references from some other book. Its cliffs or spires overshadow your dreams, its walls funnel your thoughts… but Makepeace was used to fighting against the slow poison of habit. And yet, as Makepeace discovers, her mother fled from them, and, as her last wish, begs her to flee too. The secrets of the mysterious Fellmotte family owed something to the film The Haunted Palace, one of the first horror movies I saw in my early teens.The book deals with a young teen named Makepeace and the overall idea that spirits are able to hide inside other living human souls for temporary refuge. For a companion who isn’t even human, and mainly only communicates with our protagonist through senses and emotions, bear was a surprisingly deep and heartfelt character. SPOILER ALERT) I would have really loved for the mothers character to have been more developed at the start of the story so the when she died it had more of an impact. Her writing is so original, innovative and different, I don’t know where she gets all her ideas from but I’m praying she never runs out.

A Skinful of Shadows - Wikipedia

After a couple of terrible experiences, Makepeace ends up Grizehayes, an oppressive and ominous manor controlled by the Fellmotte family. The terrifying world of the Underbelly is the realm of The Architect, whom Trista must confront in a race against time. I always knew I would be reading this book after being lucky enough to read the sampler from Netgalley back in the summer.Educated men like Sir Thomas Browne were challenging all of these beliefs, in a sensible, scientific way. The book 'A Skinful of Shadows' was written by Frances Hardinge and is the story of a 'bear-hearted girl' and her journey with a spirit inside her. At the 2015 Costa Book of the Year Awards she won the children’s book of the year award as well the overall prize for her novel The Lie Tree.