Ambergate

by Patricia Elliott

Overview

A companion book to "Murkmere" and a compelling gothic mystery in its own right, "Ambergate" is rich with suspense and unforgettable characters.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316088633
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	11/29/2009
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Lexile:	770L (what's this?)
File size:	468 KB
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Patricia Elliott was born in London, and grew up in Europe and the Far East. She has worked in publishing in London and in a children's bookshop in New York. She now teaches a course in children's literature at an adult education college. She lives in London with her husband, two sons, and a yellow labrador called Fingal. Her first book, The Ice Boy, won the Fidler Award for a first novel.

Editorial Reviews

Scuff, a minor character in Murkmere (which PW described as "a gripping story" in a starred review), takes center stage in this riveting sequel set in a kind of Cromwellian England, Ambergate by Patricia Elliott. With a mysterious and possibly criminal past, Scuff flees the Murkmere estate to escape the Lord Protector's sinister soldiers and in search of her own identity. Also, Murkmere is now in paperback. (Little, Brown, $16.99 390p ages 12-up ISBN 978-0-316-01060-3; Murkmere $7.99 paper ISBN 978-0-316-01044-3; Feb.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 9 Up
A companion to Murkmere (Little, Brown, 2006), this gothic fantasy follows the story of Scuff, otherwise known as 102, an orphan who doesn't know if she ever had a real name. When soldiers come looking for her at the remote manor house where she works as a servant, the girl is certain it's for a crime she committed as a small child in the Capital. After escaping, she is aided by some and led astray by others until she finds herself mixed up in a plot to assassinate the son of the Lord Protector. The story is convoluted, with many characters floating in and out, and tends to bog down. Although the writing (particularly the dialect-spiced dialogue) is vivid, it is often difficult to understand the motivation driving many of the characters, including Scuff herself, who is blown by the winds of fate from one bad situation to another. Buy where Murkmere has been popular, but otherwise you can skip this rather turgid fantasy.
—Eva MitnickCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Scuff the kitchen drudge is forced on a journey that broadens and deepens the touchingly chilly, gothic world readers first saw in Murkmere (2006). Ominous and ever-present religion dictates fear and worship of birds, and the land is ruled by an evil Protectorate. Scuff, timid and sober, quails when soldiers show up seeking her at Murkmere. Unable to erase the scar on her arm marking her as Number 102 from the Capital's orphanage, she assumes they've learned of her childhood crime and flees into the marshy Wasteland. Pursued a la Jean Valjean, she meets mysterious Erland, gets trapped in a house of ill repute and ends up back in the terrifying Capital. All the complications-Erland's double identity, Scuff's unknown parentage, unsavory royalty and rebels, and the reappearance of Leah, whom readers will remember as avia (part swan)-weave together in a beautiful climax that pains the heart and intrigues the mind. Mystical, stoic and poignant all at once. (Fantasy. YA)

Kirkus Reviews