(2) YA In this ambitious work, Bray alternates three seemingly disparate stories, briefly braiding them into one near the novel's end. In 1940s Germany, Sophie and Hanna are devotees of the Bridegroom's Oak, a hollow tree famed as a post box for exchanging love letters. As the Nazi regime becomes increasingly brutal and the girls work for the resistance, what better use for it than as a drop for forged documents? In the 1980s, overprotected Texan teen Jenny, who has moved with her family to West Berlin, takes on a new, rebellious life when she falls in love with punk band founder Lena, who is determined to pull off a dangerous rescue in East Berlin. And in 2020s Brooklyn, under COVID-19 lockdown, Miles and Chloe use their Zoom meetings to translate clippings and letters belonging to Chloe's German grandmother. The novel's strength lies in Bray's careful characterization of Sophie and Hanna and in the suspenseful life-or-death stakes of their story, generating momentum for the three-strand plot: how are the girls connected to characters in Berlin and Brooklyn? Thematic connections among the three milieux are patent, from fascist "making Germany great again" to perilously restrictive communist East Germany to the murder of George Floyd. Occasional peculiarities of expression ("one day, that fish who had been a boy would grow into a great whale") appear in writing that is generally sharply effective. Throughout, Bray stresses the value of resistance to "our flawed world's inhumanity, intolerance, and authoritarianism" by means of "acts both large and small."

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2025

(2) YA While researching their origins, Evie and her fellow Diviners (The Diviners; Lair of Dreams) turn up connections between their families and entrepreneur/eugenics proponent Jake Marlowe. Before confronting Marlowe, however, they must stop an army of ravenous ghosts. The supernatural scares are spine-chillingly effective, but it's the depiction of real-life horrors (WWI, the rise of hate groups, systemic mistreatment of the mentally ill) that will haunt readers.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2018

(2) YA Seventeen-year-old flapper Evie (The Diviners) and friends confront another supernatural threat. As before, Bray follows multiple characters, many also paranormally gifted. Several plot threads intertwine when Ling and Henry begin dream-walking together and a frightening "sleeping sickness" descends on NYC. Bray's vividly detailed descriptions, taking readers from glittering high-society parties to claustrophobic tunnels filled with ghastly creatures, give the novel a cinematic quality.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2015

(2) YA Bray's lavish supernatural thriller plunks a macabre series of occult murders into the grit and gaiety of 1920s New York. Bray switches perspectives among a variety of characters, including her wisecracking, likable heroine Evie, a diviner with a special connection to the spirit world. All signs point to intriguing complications and more malevolent spirits on the rise in succeeding books.

Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2012

(2) YA Teen beauty pageant contestants whose plane has crashed use their "can-do" spirit to survive on what they assume is a deserted island. (Actually, it's home to a government conspiracy.) The book is a smart, wickedly funny send-up of pageant culture; Bray also goes deeper to show how our culture's insidious focus on female perfection keeps girls from being who they are.

Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2011

(2) YA Sixteen-year-old Cameron, diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob (a.k.a. mad cow) disease, goes on a mission to save the world--or does he? Bray gleefully tosses a hallucinogenic mix of elements into the adventure. Their origins can be found in Cameron's pre-diagnosis life, begging the question: even if Cameron's experiences are a dream, are they any less real? Readers will enjoy trying to sort everything out.

Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2009

(3) YA In this final book of the trilogy (A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels), Gemma must dig deeper into the realms' mysteries. Who can she trust, and who is the true evil to fight? Gemma also fears losing her magic and her freedom. Lyrical prose and well-realized characters make this a satisfying curl-up-and-read volume.

Reviewer: Becky Levine

(3) YA Arriving at her Victorian London boarding school, Gemma finds that the mystery of her mother's death has followed her from India. The machinations of her schoolmates, along with visions of another realm where her mother exists, lead Gemma into danger. The author weaves historical fiction, romance, and the supernatural into a captivating story.

Reviewer: Becky Levine