Mors vincit omnia. Death conquers all. London, 1883. The Veil between the living and dead has thinned. Violet-eyed mediums commune with spirits under the watchful eye of the Royal Speaker Society, and sixteen-year-old Silas Bell would rather rip out his violet eyes than become an obedient Speaker wife. According to Mother, he’ll be married by the end of the year. It doesn’t matter that he’s needed a decade of tutors to hide his autism; that he practices surgery on slaughtered pigs; that he is a boy, not the girl the world insists on seeing. After a failed attempt to escape an arranged marriage, Silas is diagnosed with Veil sickness a mysterious disease sending violet-eyed women into madness-and shipped away to Braxton’s Sanitorium and Finishing School. The facility is cold, the instructors merciless, and the students either bloom into eligible wives or disappear. So when the ghosts of missing students start begging Silas for help, he decides to reach into Braxton’s innards and expose its rotten guts to the world-as long as the school doesn’t break him first.
Year 11
Good Girl Bad Blood
Good Girl Bad Blood is one of my favourite books in an amazing series. In the first book, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, Pip becomes a detective to help solve a case, but during her investigations, she causes her dog to die, attracts threats and puts her whole family in danger. When this sequel …
Birdy
Birdy, written by Sharon Kernot, is a simple book. It explores what social media can do to people’s lives. The book is about a girl called Maddy who is mostly mute after the ‘incident’. She travels out to an old farmhouse out of town where she goes on her journey to relearn how to speak …
Moonwalk
This is an amazing autobiography because of the detail about Michael Jackson’s life growingup as a child star, to becoming the world-renowned “King of Pop”. It’s insane the work thathe had to put in to become what he is. This book talks about the making of his albums andthe people he worked with along the …
One Punch
One Punch by Julie Fison is a thought-provoking contemporary novel, discussing the inner turmoil that can occur when one goes against their ethics to protect their own. We are quickly introduced to the character Yasmin and her son Daniel, who has been a victim of assault in a “One Punch” accident. We also meet the …
We Didn’t Think It Through
The book ‘We Didn’t Think It Through’ was very well written and Jamie’s story was easy to follow. Most of the characters were likeable however one of his friends that he trusted the most got the three of them into a mess that landed them in a tough spot. Jamie’s journey felt realistic as he …
The Sinister Booksellers of Bath
The second instalment of a thrilling new young adult fantasy series by Australian author Garth Nix, The Sinister Booksellers of Bath continues the story of The Left-handed Booksellers of London. Set in an alternate 1980s London, a few months after the events of the first book, become reintroduced to the wonderfully strange extended family of …
We Could Be Something
“We Could Be Something” by Will Kostakis is a story about love and choice, about choice to love,about accepting and giving love from others and to others. It is also a cozy place you want to returnwith its special atmosphere of a Greek café with a charismatic owner Gina, grandma of Harvey, whomakes “all the …
A Forgery of Roses
A Forgery of Roses by Jessica S. Olson is an extremely captivating, standalone young adult, light magic, mystery. Stalking Jack the Ripper meets The Picture of Dorian Gray, as main character Myra’s unique ability in painting provokes unwanted interest in her magical talent. Many surprising twists and turns that invite the reader to continue into …
An Ember in the Ashes
The novel begins with a country/territory suffering because they’ve been invaded and enslaved. Laia is living in poverty with her brother and grandparents, surviving by selling jam and healing people. When tragedy strikes, Laia jumps at the opportunity to try and save them, even if it means putting her life on the line. We also …