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Julie Hearn: The US Page |
I was thrilled when my US publisher, Simon & Schuster, invited me on a pre-publication tour. I met some great people in New York and Philadelphia, and at the American Library Association's Midwinter Conference in Boston. And it was quite something to finally get to visit Salem after having read, and imagined, so much about the city while researching The Minister's Daughter. My own daughter, Tilly, was pretty fed-up about having to stay in England while I was having such an exciting time. I had to buy her an Ipod to make up for it!
A bitterly cold afternoon, at The Burying Point in Salem
That's me on the left, wishing I'd worn at least three pairs of socks. On the right is Simon & Schuster's Katie McGarry who kept me high on Starbucks coffee and kindly indulged my need to dive into every souvenir shop we passed, to buy little witches on key rings, little witches on coasters, little witches on tea towels, little witches on shot glasses and enough postcards to mail an entire English village...
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Ivy - publishing June 2008 |
Ivy is a rollicking story of nineteenth-century England and a memorable character destined to take her place alongside Dickens' Pip and Oliver Twist.
Simon & Schuster
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Once you start to read it, just try to put it down again - I dare you.
Libba Bray, author of A Great and Terrible Beauty
Hearn develops each character with exquisite care, the month-by-month narration ratcheting up the tension as Grace's belly swells and the minister casts about for scapegoats... The result is twinned endings, one eminently satisfying, the other satisfyingly unsettling. Tremendous.
Kirkus (starred review)
Hearn deftly combines lyrical magic with compelling adventure. I loved The Minister's Daughter...
Holly Black, author of Tithe and The Spiderwick Chronicles
With its thought-provoking perceptions about human nature, magic and persecution, this tale will surely cast a spell over readers.
Publishers Weekly
Hearn creates a richly magical ambiance, straddling the line between the supernatural and the concrete realm of human passions and weaknesses. Her language evokes a simpler, more provincial era even as she works the pedals on a complex orchestration of feelings, motives and coincidences among the large cast of players. Of particular note is her wonderfully intricate portrait of the minister's younger daughter, Patience, which shades masterfully between simple-minded dupe in thrall to Grace and Machiavellian jade running her own long game.
Horn Book
Of all the characters - human and supernatural - who appear in The Minister's Daughter, one in particular seems to have struck a special chord in the US. Yes... it's the dun chicken! So meet "Chicken", my feathered friend and the inspiration for the bird in the book. "Chicken" is as daft as a brush, and loves to sunbathe, sit on laps and peck at everything from grit to coat buttons. "Chicken" is a star!
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"And there is something else", Father was saying excitedly. "Something left by the witch, among my wife's possessions. Look!" And he held up a feather. A big brown feather. Beside me Grace began to shake and to roll her eyes. "Her imp", she moaned. "I've seen it with her, out in the lanes. She talks to it and coddles it like it were a child newborn." The witch-finder grabbed the pen. "What manner of creature is this?" he asked. "A chicken," Grace replied, clutching my arm and staring in horror at the feather as if the very sight of it caused her pain. "A great, ugly chicken." |
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An absorbing book with a valuable lesson.
Publishers Weekly
Sign of the Raven's fast pacing and vivid recreation of gruesome past events will appeal to fans of many different genres.
Hearn builds plot and personal conflicts with a riveting combination of fantasy and history [...] One hopes that teens and adults will share this thought-provoking, multilayered story.
Voya
Fast-paced, creepy, hard to put down...
School Library Journal