A Skinful of Shadows

by Frances Hardinge

Overview

From the award–winning author of The Lie Tree, Frances Hardinge offers “a delicious combination of historical adventure, coming-of-age tale, and supernatural intrigue” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

Sometimes, when a person dies, their spirit goes looking for somewhere to hide. Some people have space within them, perfect for hiding.

Young Makepeace has learned to defend herself from the ghosts that try to possess her in the night, desperate for refuge, but one day a dreadful event causes her to drop her guard. And now there’s a spirit inside her. The spirit is wild, brutish, and strong, and it may be her only defense when she is sent to live with her father’s rich and powerful family. There is talk of civil war, and they need people like her to protect their dark and terrible family secret. But as she plans to escape and heads out into a country torn apart by war, Makepeace must decide which is worse: possession—or death.

“Darkly splendid . . . a wonderful, resonant narrative whose subtlety and insight will challenge, entertain and enchant.” —The Guardian

“A Skinful of Shadows is outlandishly creative and thoroughly blood-chilling. Her storytelling is visceral and unfurls at an exciting pace, making this novel a wonderful, weird and terrifying addition to her body of work.” —Shelf Awareness (starred review)

“A book that only Hardinge could write . . . [a] masterful and spooky historical fantasy.” —School Library Journal (starred review)

“Hardinge’s writing is stunning, and readers will be taken hostage by its intensity, fascinating developments, and the fierce, compassionate girl leading the charge.” —Booklist (starred review)

“Deliberate, impeccable, and extraordinary.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419725722
Publisher:	Amulet Books
Publication date:	10/17/2017
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.40(d)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Frances Hardinge is the winner of the Costa Book of the Year for The Lie Tree, one of just two young adult novels to win the major UK literary prize. She is the author of several books for children, including Cuckoo Song, The Lost Conspiracy, Fly by Night, Well Witched, and Fly Trap. She lives in England. Visit the author at franceshardinge.com.

Editorial Reviews

★ 09/25/2017
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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Ages 13–up. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

**STARRED REVIEW**
" . . . a delicious combination of historical adventure, coming-of-age tale, and supernatural intrigue"—Publishers Weekly

**STARRED REVIEW**
"Hardinge's plot is both unpredictable and rock-solid, her settings full of smells, her imagery vivid . . . Deliberate, impeccable, and extraordinary."—Kirkus Reviews

**STARRED REVIEW**
"A Skinful of Shadows is outlandishly creative and thoroughly blood-chilling. Her storytelling is visceral and unfurls at an exciting pace, making this novel a wonderful, weird and terrifying addition to her body of work."—Shelf Awareness

**STARRED REVIEW**
"Hardinge’s writing is stunning, and readers will be taken hostage by its intensity, fascinating developments, and the fierce, compassionate girl leading the charge."
—Booklist

**STARRED REVIEW**
"Hardinge continues to create multifaceted characters, well-researched historical settings, and laugh-out-loud dialogue that will enrapture strong readers of fantasy and complex historical fiction. VERDICT A book that only Hardinge could write; add this masterful and spooky historical fantasy to upper middle grade and YA shelves."—School Library Journal

**STARRED REVIEW**
"The visceral immediacy of Hardinge’s prose . . . can sometimes be unsettling, but the prose itself is always original and invigorating"
—The Horn Book

"The setting allows for plenty of action and intrigue . . . It all ends on a strange and bittersweet note, but Hardinge fans will be accustomed to that by now and will not be disappointed here."—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"​The novel is a very descriptive and craftily written . . . It would be ideal for tenacious students looking for a good ghost story."—School Library Connection

From the Publisher

**STARRED REVIEW**
"Hardinge’s writing is stunning, and readers will be taken hostage by its intensity, fascinating developments, and the fierce, compassionate girl leading the charge."

Booklist

"The setting allows for plenty of action and intrigue . . . It all ends on a strange and bittersweet note, but Hardinge fans will be accustomed to that by now and will not be disappointed here."

The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"​The novel is a very descriptive and craftily written . . . It would be ideal for tenacious students looking for a good ghost story."

School Library Connection

**STARRED REVIEW**
"The visceral immediacy of Hardinge’s prose . . . can sometimes be unsettling, but the prose itself is always original and invigorating"

The Horn Book

**STARRED REVIEW**
"A Skinful of Shadows is outlandishly creative and thoroughly blood-chilling. Her storytelling is visceral and unfurls at an exciting pace, making this novel a wonderful, weird and terrifying addition to her body of work."

Shelf Awareness

★ 2017-10-01
In 17th-century England, a girl faces civil unrest, conflicting Christianities, and a family inheritance more horrific than she could have dreamed.Makepeace has nightmares, so Mother banishes her to an abandoned chapel to practice fighting off the dead people who are trying to enter her mind. Upon Mother's death, Makepeace is sent to the Fellmottes, family of the father she never knew. Grizehayes is a "graceless and vast" house, the wealthy family's "arrogance made stone.…proof of their centuries." The Fellmottes treat her as a servant and prevent her escape: they need her as a spare receptacle for generations of family ghosts. But if Makepeace's body inherits the ghosts, her own consciousness may not survive. Doggedly ingenious and stolid, Makepeace grabs every scrap of agency she can find—even when ghosts do share her mind, invited or not, human or beast. She escapes Grizehayes, but the Fellmottes hunt her through city and countryside, through both sides of the unfolding English civil war, through the disguises she keeps changing. Powerlessness, poverty, and integrity are major themes, built on a subtle yet stubborn underlying warmth. Hardinge's plot is both unpredictable and rock-solid, her settings full of smells, her imagery vivid: "A shocked silence pooled like blood." All characters are white and English.Deliberate, impeccable, and extraordinary. (Historical fantasy. 12-15)

Kirkus Reviews

**STARRED REVIEW**
"Hardinge’s writing is stunning, and readers will be taken hostage by its intensity, fascinating developments, and the fierce, compassionate girl leading the charge."

Booklist