Publishers Weekly
In 1852, 17-year-old orphan Katharine Tulman is faced with a monumental task: travel from London to Stranwyne Keep, her uncle's Victorian estate in the country, and commit him to an asylum. He has supposedly become "unbalanced in his mind" and is depleting Katharine's cousin's inheritance with his projects—and Katharine herself has designs on that money. Strange, haunting things begin to happen the moment haughty Katharine arrives at Stranwyne, but her attitude changes as she discovers her uncle's ingenious toy inventions, learns about his gasworks that employ and house hundreds from the workhouses, and falls for his attractive apprentice, Lane. Just as romance and fun enter Katharine's life for the first time, she begins to have inexplicable, violent episodes that put her future, the town, and England in peril. Inspired by the life of an eccentric real-life duke, Cameron's eerie and suspenseful first novel offers gripping twists, rich language, and an evocative landscape. Readers should find it easy to become fully absorbed in this gothic coming-of-age story about finding unexpected freedom. Ages 12–up. Agent: Kelly Sonnack, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
Praise for The Dark Unwinding:
A YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults selection
Winner of the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award
"Utterly original, romantic, and spellbindingly imaginative." — USA Today
"Haunting thrills unfurl..." — Entertainment Weekly
"Gripping twists, rich language, and an evocative landscape." — Publishers Weekly
"[A] singularly polished piece." — The Horn Book
"A strikingly original, twisty gothic tale that holds surprises around every dark corner." —Judy Blundell, author of What I Saw and How I Lied
Praise for A Spark Unseen:
"Gripping... [an] absorbing, intelligent adventure." — Kirkus Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
"Why had life singled me out for drudgery and isolation, and to be the instrument of others' unhappiness?" Katharine, an orphan reliant entirely upon the charity of her father's sister-in-law, has been dispatched by her horrid aunt to the estate of her father's only remaining living sibling--to declare him a lunatic and thereby settle the family's fortune on her odious cousin. The pragmatic 17-year-old is astounded and appalled to find that Stranwyne is home to a gasworks, a kiln and a foundry, along with two idyllic villages populated by some 800 souls plucked from the workhouses of London to serve and support her Uncle Tully. While far from a lunatic, Katharine's uncle is nevertheless terribly vulnerable, a man today's readers will recognize as on the autistic spectrum, a wizard with numbers and gadgets but entirely helpless in society. At the behest of handsome, gray-eyed Lane, her uncle's chief caregiver, Katharine agrees to a stay of 30 days, possibly the only free days of her entire life. Cameron, through wry, observant Katharine, spins a deliciously gothic tale peopled with appealing and not-so-appealing secondary characters, punctuated by the requisite madness and shot through with intrigue. Though readers may not be surprised by Katharine's arc, there are more than enough twists and turns along the way to maintain suspense. By turns funny and poignant, this period mystery is a thoroughgoing delight. (Historical mystery. 12-16)
