|
The Black Book of Secrets
|
| List Price: | $14.95 |
| Price: | $10.17 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details |
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com
50 new or used available from $4.49
Average customer review:
Product Description
Ludlow yearns to trust his mentor, who refuses to disclose any information on his past experiences or future intentions. What the pawnbroker does not know is, in a town brimming with secrets, the most troubling may be held by his new apprentice.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #38777 in Books
- Published on: 2007-10-02
- Released on: 2007-10-02
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 288 pages
Features
- ISBN13: 9780312368449
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
- Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices
Editorial Reviews
Review
Praise for The Black Book of Secrets:
“Wonderful. Anyone looking for the next big thing has come to the right place. Higgins has created a uniquely grim fantasy world that more than holds its own with Dickens or Peake. Her characters are brilliantly realized and the story grabs at the reader with hooked talons.”—Eoin Colfer
“This polished debut from a British writer tantalizingly blends secrets and thick, evocative atmosphere . . . Higgins, framing her book as texts discovered in a hallowed wooden leg, expertly sustains the audience’s curiosity, revealing just enough information to keep readers riveted. And for all the grisly details, the novel gets at important themes about self-determination and trust. Original and engrossing.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
“The story’s vaguely Dickensian atmosphere is exquisite . . . A tantalizingly revelatory ending leaves at least one thread dangling for future volumes (which are sure to evoke more picaresque oddities and nefarious tales), making this a smart, peculiarly thrilling book that is sure to appeal to readers ready to sidestep the goodygoody Harry Potters of adventure fiction.” —Booklist, Starred Review
“Higgins’s debut begins with a bang—on the streets of a London as dark as in any Dickens novel—and ends in a mysterious cave, with no let-up in pacing from start to finish . . . One of Higgins’s great achievements is the way she manages to convey a degree of innocence in Ludlow despite his harsh life surviving the city streets. Redemption emerges as a strong theme in the book, as she reveals the complexities of human nature, and she leaves open several mysteries (including the history behind a wooden leg and Joe’s prized pet frog). Readers can only hope for many more black books filled with secrets.” —Shelf Awareness
“Pre-teens who enjoy historically based fantasy . . . will find The Black Book of Secrets thoroughly rewarding.”—The Washington Post
“. . . will keep readers on the edge of their seats.” —Scripps Howard News Service
“There can be few more nightmarish openings than that of The Black Book of Secrets . . . A beguiling mix of gothic fairy tale and Dalhesque macabre for 9-13-year-olds.” —The Telegraph (UK)
“Higgins creates a fascinating novel peopled with colorful characters and imbued with clever plot twists . . . the novel’s climax is both excellent and surprising.” —VOYA
“Higgins’s fine writing and wry tale will charm readers who are ready for the unusual . . . like the film Chocolat . . . a stranger enters a town and changes the lives there forever, all from the confines of a small shop, this time a pawnbroker’s place.” —KLIATT
“The resolution, as tidy a piece of plotting as can be imagined, not only collects all the plot threads but leads to the deeper revelation of who Joe is and why he plies such a curious trade. Strongly seasoned with details of nineteenth-century oddities, the story abounds with puzzles, quirks, and enticing disclosures.” —The Horn Book
“While Ludlow & Co. do live in an alternate reality, there are many details about life in the late 1800s that readers of historical fiction will enjoy—especially those who like reading about the more gruesome, less well-known details, like stealing and selling teeth, grave robbers, body snatchers and Sweeney Todd.” —Bookshelves of Doom
“I thought this book was outstanding. It's a horror book with lots of mystery. I would give it four stars.” —Jennifer Hopkins, age 11, in the Washington Times
From the Back Cover
“Grabs at the reader with hooked talons.”—Eoin Colfer
A boy arrives at a remote village in the dead of night. His name is Ludlow Fitch—and he is running from a most terrible past. What he is about to learn is that in this village is the life he has dreamed of—a safe place to live, and a job, as the assistant to the mysterious pawnbroker who trades people’s deepest, darkest secrets for cash. Ludlow’s job is to neatly transcribe the confessions in an ancient leather-bound tome: The Black Book of Secrets.
Ludlow yearns to trust his mentor, who refuses to disclose any information on his past experiences or future interactions. What the pawnbroker does not know is, in a town brimming with secrets, the most troubling may be held by his new apprentice.
Born in London, F.E. Higgins moved to Ireland at the age of seven. After attending university in Dublin, she returned to England, and now lives in a house that dates back to the 15th century in a small village in rural Kent. The Black Book of Secrets is her first novel.
About the Author
Customer Reviews
A clever supernatural book, or is it supernatural?
This book is very unique in that the plot reveals little secrets and hints about the character that make you wonder if the book is in the supernatural genre. However, the author leaves that open for interpretation because everything could easily be explained by natural causes and effects. It is a fun mystery book for the young adult audience with twists and turns sure to keep anyone enthralled.
This book is also unique because the author takes the time to describe all of the characters in depth. Every character is important and none are to be overlooked. There is also the clever placement of a symbol at strategically placed intervals in the chapters. Its meaning is revealed at the end of the book. It's a very clever tool to use in the formatting of the book. Even the outward appearance of the book is interesting. It is built as the Book of Secrets is described in the story. It almost gives it a creepy feeling when you look at its black edged pages.
As a whole, the book is very clever and an enjoyable read. I would especially recommend this book for the grades of seven through ten, but anyone could enjoy this book.
Marvelous Gothic Horror for Children and Adults
Why no one knows about this book yet is a mystery to me. I found it in a French bookstore, in the English section, in Quebec City. This is an absolutely wonderful first book filled with true horror and wonders for all ages.
I don't know why the book's publisher has chosen to categorize this book only for 9-12 year olds, as it reads quite fine to me at 29. I bought it without noticing it was a children's book, and got a good way in before I even realized that was the intention.
The story starts out with an anguishing bit of horror, and then quickly moves through the English countryside as we follow our city-boy protaganist to where he lands in Parvus Pravil, where he meets and apprentices with the most extraordinary pawnbroker.
The pawnbroker specializes in people's secrets, and at midnight invites townfolk to his shop where they tell them his worst secrets and he pays them for their safe keeping.
I think fans of Harry Potter, The Sandman, and Lemony Snicket, all will truly enjoy this novel.
Also, I have no idea what this other review is talking about as this story is very clearly about a little boy, who in no way discovers a book of secrets, but instead, helps write one.
Richie's Picks: THE BLACK BOOK OF SECRETS
"When I opened my eyes I knew that nothing in my miserable life prior to that moment could possibly be as bad as what was about to happen. I was lying on the cold earthen floor of a basement room lit by a single candle, no more than an hour's burning left. Instruments of a medical nature hung from hooks in the beams. Dark stains on the floor suggested blood. But it was the chair against the opposite wall that fully confirmed my suspicions. Thick leather straps attached to the arms and the legs were there for one purpose only: to hold down an unwilling patient. Ma and Pa were standing over me.
" 'E's awake,' crowed Ma excitedly.
"Pa dragged me to my feet. He had me in an iron grip, my arm wrenched up behind my back. Ma held me by the hair. I looked from one to the other. Their grinning faces were only inches away from mine. I knew I should not look to them to save me.
"Another man, concealed until now in the shadows, stepped forward and took me by the chin. He forced open my mouth and ran a blackened, foul-tasting finger around my gums.
" 'How much?' asked Pa, drooling with anticipation.
" 'Not bad,' said the man. 'Thrupence apiece. Maybe twelve in all.'
" 'It's a deal,' said Pa. 'Who needs teeth anyway?'
" 'Someone, I hope,' replied the man dryly. 'I sell 'em for a living.'
"And they laughed, all three, Ma and Pa and Barton Gumbroot, the notorious tooth surgeon of Old Goat's Alley.
"Once the money for my teeth was agreed with Barton, they moved quickly. Together they dragged me over to the surgeon's chair. I kicked and shouted and spat and bit; I wasn't going to make it easy for them. I knew how Barton Gumbroot made his living, preying on the poor, pulling their teeth, paying them pennies and selling them for ten times as much. I was racked with fear. I had no protection. I was going to feel it all. Every nerve-stabbing twinge."
Oh man! I shiver as I read that opening scene and realize how, four decades later, I am still so traumatized by my own childhood experiences in the world of dentistry.
In contrast to the struggling Ludlow Fitch -- who is about to escape that basement room with most (but not all) of his teeth still intact -- I was more like the lamb being led to slaughter. Every six months I would obediently enter the little shop of horrors that constituted the office of my childhood dentist, Dr. Arthur Roberts, where he would constantly discover new places to drill into my teeth. I would sit there and quietly endure the agony of every nerve-stabbing twinge.
It was not until I was in middle school, when my mother found a new dentist closer to where we then lived, that I learned that other dentists first administered Novocain to eliminate the pain of the drilling. I am still unclear whether Dr. Robert's lack of pain management was a strategy to get me to do a better job of brushing my teeth, was a byproduct of my parent's dental plan, or whether Dr. Roberts really was a nineteenth century kind of dentist and I was just too young to be administered the proverbial shot of whiskey -- like in a cowboy movie -- before his getting down to business.
In any case, young Ludlow Fitch escapes his parents, the despicable tooth surgeon, and the City by clinging precariously to the back of a departing carriage "like an organ-grinder's monkey," and ends up in the mountain village of Pagus Parvus, where he is taken in by Joe Zabbidou, a mysterious character who has arrived in the village at the very same moment. During the day, Joe runs a pawnshop he's established where he pays handsomely for worthless junk. And, after midnight, Joe is a pawnbroker of secrets, paying handsomely for those secrets that the villagers want to get off their chests in order to attain some peace of mind. Ludlow becomes his scribe, carefully getting every word written into the Black Book of Secrets.
Ludlow, who over the course of his entire childhood in the City was forced by his parents to be a thief, cannot fathom what Joe's angle is:
" 'What exactly are you doing, Joe? Who are you? Why did you come here?'
"He leaned back on the counter and stretched his long legs out in front of him. 'I am just an old man, Ludlow, trying to help those in need.'
" 'But the book, the money. You give all the time. What do you get back?'
" 'It doesn't have to be about taking. Don't you think it's enough to give? Why should I expect anything in return?'
"I was beginning to understand, but it was not easy. I suppose I was still a thief at heart. My whole life in the City had been about taking for myself and taking care of myself."
THE BLACK BOOK OF SECRETS offers readers an intriguing view of the human psyche as the equilibrium of this isolated village, located in the distant past, is set off-kilter by the arrival of Joe and Ludlow:
" 'Why must it be human nature to hear one thing but believe it is another?'
" 'Because we want things to get better,' I said. 'Otherwise we would all give up.'
"Joe closed his eyes. 'Dum spiro, spiro,' he said. 'While I breath, I hope.' "
It is an exceptionally well-crafted and mysterious tale.
Now, the question is: what is YOUR darkest secret?
