Shadow Girl

by Liana Liu

Overview

The Memory Key author Liana Liu delivers a thrilling story of one girl struggling to claim her own identity while becoming an unwitting participant in the strange fate of a wealthy dynasty.

The house on Arrow Island is full of mystery.

Yet, when Mei arrives, she can’t help feeling relieved. She’s happy to spend the summer in an actual mansion tutoring a rich man’s daughter if it means a break from her normal life—her needy mother, her delinquent brother, their tiny apartment in the city. And Ella Morison seems like an easy charge, sweet and well behaved.

What she doesn’t know is that something is very wrong in the Morison household.

Though Mei tries to focus on her duties, she becomes increasingly distracted by the family’s problems and her own complicated feelings for Ella’s brother, Henry. But most disturbing of all are the unexplained noises she hears at night—the howling and thumping and cries.

Mei is a sensible girl. She isn’t superstitious; she doesn’t believe in ghosts. Yet she can’t shake her fear that there is danger lurking in the shadows of this beautiful house, a darkness that could destroy the family inside and out...and Mei along with them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062306692
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	12/19/2017
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	775 KB
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Liana Liu was born and raised in New York City and lives there still. She received her MFA in fiction writing from the University of Minnesota.

Editorial Reviews

10/16/2017
The industrious heroine of Liu’s second novel (called Mei in the book’s jacket copy, but unnamed in the story itself) spends her summers working as an academic tutor—anything to help the family make ends meet after her father disappeared. When the wealthy Morison family invites her to tutor their daughter on Arrow Island for the summer, the money is too good pass up, even though her Chinese mother wants her to stay at home. But after the recent high school graduate arrives, everything about the Morisons and their house is strange: eight-year-old tutee Ella seems to be hiding something, older brother Henry acts awkward and stilted, the Morison parents are in marital distress, and Ella claims that a ghost haunts the house. Despite the haunted house hook and the atmospheric island setting, Liu’s story is slow to gain momentum, which again slackens during an interlude in which the girl returns to her home in the city. The addition of a romance between Liu’s heroine and Henry further clutters this novel of a family forced to face its demons. Ages 13–up. Agent: Sarah Burnes, Gernert Company. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

PRAISE FOR THE MEMORY KEY: “Paced like a spy thriller, this novel is a terrific read for reluctant female readers; they will identify with Lora and the terribly difficult choices she is confronted with.” — Booklist

“A fast-paced mystery with a touch of romance.” — Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)

“Readers will be itching to reach the conclusion.” — School Library Journal

From the Publisher

PRAISE FOR THE MEMORY KEY: “Paced like a spy thriller, this novel is a terrific read for reluctant female readers; they will identify with Lora and the terribly difficult choices she is confronted with.

Booklist

A fast-paced mystery with a touch of romance.

Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)

PRAISE FOR THE MEMORY KEY: “Paced like a spy thriller, this novel is a terrific read for reluctant female readers; they will identify with Lora and the terribly difficult choices she is confronted with.

Booklist

09/01/2017
Gr 8 Up—Recent high school graduate Mei has accepted a job as an academic tutor to the youngest child of a finance mogul. When she reaches the island where the Morison family summer home is located, Mei is stunned at the lifestyle differences between her own family and that of her new charge. The teen tries to focus on her obligations, but as she spends more time with the Morisons, she finds herself devoting less energy to lesson plans, struggling to navigate the overindulgence and complicated web of friction in the home instead. And as Mei is increasingly pulled into the Morison family drama, strange things start to occur in the house. Mei isn't superstitious, but she can't shake her growing unease. Although presented as a ghost story, the first two-thirds of the book focus more on Mei's struggle to find and assert herself amid the strained Morison family dynamics as well as in her own complicated relationships rather than the supernatural. Mei feels an intense pressure to be accommodating with everyone in her life; if she is unable to meet these expectations she feels both shame and guilt. When the soft noises and shadows in her bedroom on the island eventually do twist into something more sinister, it's more foretelling than frightening. Some strong language is included. VERDICT An interesting story line will hold readers until the end, but a poor choice for fans of the paranormal. An additional purchase for large collections.—Maggie Mason Smith, Clemson University, SC

School Library Journal

2017-09-18
When an 18-year-old girl lands a high-paying summer job as academic tutor for the well-behaved Ella Morison, she can't believe her luck. But all is not quite as it seems.Liu's nameless first-person protagonist is grateful for the opportunity—staying with the wealthy, white Morison family in a perfect house on Arrow Island, she's hours away from her anxious mother, her delinquent brother, and the specter of the father who abandoned them. Quickly, though, she encounters mysteries that her roving mind cannot easily resolve. Why is she drawn to Henry, Ella's "more than a little irritating" older brother? How can she reach an apparently, inexplicably distracted Ella? And what darkness lurks in the shadows of the home, waking her and Ella at night and threatening the whole family? This isn't a new story, echoing other outsiders-serving-the-rich lore from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre (1847) to Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus' The Nanny Diaries (2003). Liu's welcome update of a Chinese-American heroine is offset by the awkward inclusion of italicized Mandarin directly followed by translation. Still, the intrigues are compelling, and Liu's descriptions of both the protagonist's life of striving and her brush with privilege ring fresh and true.A breezy thriller with brief forays into matters of race, class, and the paranormal. (Suspense. 12-18)

Kirkus Reviews