A Skinful of Shadows

Product Information

Frances Hardinge weaves a dark, otherworldly tale in A Skinful of Shadows, her first book since the Costa Award-winning The Lie Tree. A Skinful of Shadows is the story of a girl. The story of a country in the throes of Civil War. The way these two stories intersect and diverge from one another. It’s a story about a brother and a sister, a mother and a daughter, a girl who needs to grow up. It has a unique found family, one bear, female spies, ghosts and terrible villains. It is above all, a story about trust and having faith in people. Makepeace and her mother live in a puritan village in England just prior to the English Civil War. From a young age Makepeace is trained to protect herself in a very strange way: her mother has her sleep in the village graveyard overnight to force her to learn to defend herself against the ghosts that she senses there. The ability that makes her able to see ghosts also makes her the perfect target for possession by them, something that she finds out all about when a traumatic event leaves her possessed by the spirit of a beast. But the beast may be all that can save her when she encounters her father's family, many of whom also have the gift. And for the next three years or so, she will try to escape – with the help of a brother she never knew she had, but whose shared heritage brings them together. But the Fellmotes will not make it easy for them – for the two kids are needed for the very survival of their powerful household. The problem is: their bodies may be indispensable because of their power but who they are – or at least what makes them them– is effectively expendable.

A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge - Pan Macmillan

A Skinful of Shadows starts out very solid as we learn about our lead gals odd ghost 'issues'. Her Mother that appears cruel and the Aunt and Uncle who have no interest in her sets our lead gal up as a neglected, alone and forgotten soul. Not unlike some ghost/spirits might be. Makepeace has the trademark of all Hardinge’s heroines; she’s resourceful, curious and recognises her differences as her greatest strengths. The narrative is incredibly absorbing and while the plot is driven by the feud between Makepeace and the Fellmottes over her supernatural abilities, there are still numerous references to the historical context and, more than anything, it is the brutality of the Civil War that really sets the tone of the story. Hardinge ultimately seems to have a rather scathing assessment of both sides in the conflict, with characters like Livewell, the disillusioned Puritan, and Symond, the Royalist who becomes a Parliamentarian simply to be free of his duties as a Fellmotte, illustrating that no side had the monopoly on righteous ideology and each was spouting their own version of ‘fake news’. There's no real reason A Skinful of Shadows needed to have an identity crisis. Set during the English civil war, our horror story is the focus, but certainly our characters are affected by the battle events around them. Which was all well and good until our lead gal ends up caught up in a scheme that will benefit one side of the war. While it gets our characters away from certain situations this interlude of smuggling, spies, infantry movements and battlement sieges is just dull. Instead of having an engaging reason to care, and partially because our lead gal doesn't care who wins, I just couldn't bring myself to feel any passion about the war or whose side wins or losses. I didn’t know what to expect with Skinful, which perhaps made my creeping realization of being in the wrong story all the more uncomfortable. It begins with a young girl, Makepeace, feeling her way through her outsider status in a small village. It turns out that the village is populated with Puritans who looks askance at a single mother. One day Mother starts leaving her in the local cemetery so she can learn to use her skills.Then one day, during a particularly bitter argument, Margaret accidentally lets slip an important piece of information about Makepeace’s father, a subject rarely spoken of in their household. This precipitates a chain of tragic events that leads Makepeace to the discovery of where she came from, as well as the origin behind her nightmares. Never did she imagine that the truth would be so terrible though, as she suddenly realizes the forces of evil her mother had been trying to protect her from. Understanding much too late, Makepeace lets her guard down in a moment of weakness, unwittingly allowing a ghost to invade her mind—except this ghost is different from the ones she has encountered before, being the spirit of a frightened, angry bear. So here are a few books that are not scary but have ghosts as either their main characters or they are central to the plot of the novel. 1) A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge This was my first Hardinge book. I have more a couple more of hers on my shelf for the future and I'm definitely excited to read them. While I give this a 3.5 stars it's a solid 3.5. Assuming you can push through the dragging war bound middle of the novel then I believe most will enjoy Hardinge's creepy and (mostly) compelling ghost story. This is one of the best feel-good books you will ever read and is highly recommended to all fans of books with ghosts. 3) Remember Me by Christopher Pike A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge is a historical fiction book set during the English Civil War. Sometimes when a person dies, their spirit goes looking for somewhere to hide. Sone people have space within them, where these spirits can hide. Twelve-year-old Makepeace has learned he defend herself from the ghosts that haunt her in the night. However, one day a dreadful event causes her to drop her defence. Now a spirit is inside of her and it might be her only defence when she is sent to live with her father’s rich and powerful ancestors. A civil war is imminent between the King and Parliament and Makepeace must decide what she wants to do with her life.

Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge - Pan Macmillan Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge - Pan Macmillan

There is a good use of adventurous language and normally when I read a book I can imagine the surroundings and make up what I think it would look like but with this book nothing is left the the imagination because everything is described so well I feel like I'm there. Here is the story of a girl whose mind can be inhabited by ghosts - a family characteristic of the aristocratic Fellmottes, and one highly prized in both its heirs and bastards (who are not so much expendable as...harvestable). One of the latter, Makepeace grows up unaware of her connection to the family, knowing only that she suffers from nightmares, that she senses bad things in cemeteries, that her mother has secrets. The Charley Davidson series combines excellent detective work with engrossing paranormal romance. Definitely one of the best books in the ghosts as central characters genre. 5) Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuireof the Best Supernatural Fantasy Books for Tweens | SpookShelf on The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman Review