I would like to thank Ms. Laura Bickle for sharing her wonderful book and information with us. I will be reading & reviewing the book The Hallowed Ones in the coming month. Please read the following post from Ms. Bickle and get the book. I can't wait to read it, sounds great!!!
Lisa
MoonShineArtSpot@gmail.com
Signs and Portents
By Laura
Bickle
There are
warnings about danger all around us. Some are obvious, and some are subtle.
Many such
warnings come from the natural world. We’ve all heard anecdotes about dogs and
cats who can sense earthquakes before we can, howling warnings and fleeing
before disaster comes. There are tales of earthworms crawling out of ground
that is soon to be flooded, and studies showing that sharks will leave areas of
the ocean soon to be struck by hurricanes. Animals know things that we don’t,
serving as warnings for us.
There are
myths about ravens, especially. There’s one story about the Tower of London
that always sticks in my mind. There are always ravens in residence – some even
have their wings clipped to keep them there. There’s a legend that if the
ravens ever abandon the Tower of London, the kingdom will fall.
When I was
creating the world of THE HALLOWED ONES, ravens were on my mind. The heroine,
Katie, is an Amish girl who is very in tune with the natural world. Ravens are
part of her landscape, picking through fields for grain and standing on her
clothesline, gossiping with each other. When the end of the world comes, the
humans are not sure what’s happened. The people in Katie’s settlement only know
that there are no cars on the road, that a curfew has been ordered. There are
no lights on the horizon.
But the
birds know.
One
morning, Katie awakens to a great cacophony. Thousands of ravens are calling to
each other, taking wing in a massive swarm. The swarm is so dense that it
blackens the sky, and the sound is deafening. The birds are leaving, flying
south in vast multitudes.
The
evacuation of the birds tells Katie that something is very wrong with her
world, something truly horrific. She can only guess at what it is…but the
ravens already know, and are shrieking to anything that will listen.
THE
HALLOWED ONES
By Laura
Bickle
Publisher:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Graphia
Release
Date: September 25, 2012
ISBN-13:
978-0547859262
Katie is on the verge of her Rumspringa, the time in Amish life when teenagers can get a taste of the real world. But the real world comes to her in this dystopian tale with a philosophical bent. Rumors of massive unrest on the “Outside” abound. Something murderous is out there. Amish elders make a rule: No one goes outside, and no outsiders come in. But when Katie finds a gravely injured young man, she
can’t leave him to die. She smuggles him into her family’s barn—at what cost to her community? The suspense of this vividly told, truly horrific thriller will keep the pages turning.
"This is a book to make you fear the shadows--a horrifying and gruesome tale of faith, and things that blink red eyes in the night. I began reading in the daylight, and read on into the late hours, leaning close, biting my lip. I could not look away; I was obsessed. Katie is an unbreakable soul."
--Lauren DeStefano, New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of the Chemical Garden Trilogy
“What an eerily believable, unique story! I can’t stop thinking about it—or shivering.”
—Melissa Marr, New York Times best-selling author of the Wicked Lovely series
“Readers will find it hard to put down this suspenseful, scary, compulsively readable adventure…”
-Kirkus Reviews
- THE HALLOWED ONES is available from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Powell’s, and Books A Million.
- A free excerpt of THE HALLOWED ONES is available here: http://laurabickle.com/the-hallowed-ones/?action=excerpt
- For more info about Laura and her books, please visit her website at www.laurabickle.com. She’s also on Facebook and Twitter, usually exclaiming over cute cat pictures and nerdy things.
Thanks so much for hosting me! :-)
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