THE SEER OF SHADOWS

The Seer of Shadows

By Avi

2009

202 Pages

Set in New York city during the 1870's Horace Carpetine, age fourteen has just become the apprentice to society photographer Enoch Middleditch. The wealthy Mrs. Fredrick Von Macht hires them to take a picture of her to put on the grave of her deceased daughter, Elenora. Soon Horace begins to understand that Mr. Middleditch is a unscrupulous business man who is more than willing to prey on the grief of a mother. His idea is to tamper with the photos to make Mrs. Von Macht believe that her daughter's ghostly presence is still in her house and in the very photos that he takes. After the portrait session very strange things start to happen to Horace. A mysterious servant girl reveals that Elenora's death was not an accident and Horace starts to see Elenora first in the Von Macht's home and then It turns out that Horace actually has a supernatural abilities-to bring spirits alive with the pictures he takes. No one is prepared for the ghost of Elenora who returns-an angry spirit intent on punishing those who abused her before she died.

I loved this book. It was a great ghost story! I found myself getting so caught up in the story and the creepy atmosphere I was literally getting goose bumps! I love it when a story can do that to you. Horace is a great character that has been raised in an environment that encourages him to rationalize and use science to figure out what is going on. So through the story he continues to try to wrap his mind around the presence of a ghost and how it can really be happening. So as the reader I felt myself going back and forth with him trying to guess what was going to happen next.

Loved the book! I would recommend it to readers 12 and up. I bought it at a school book sale and will be donating it to the Salmon Public Library. It will be available for check out.