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313 pp.
| Dial |
April, 2014 |
TradeISBN 978-0-8037-3924-6$16.99
(2)
4-6
In 1835, Rufus, twelve-year-old hunchback and chess prodigy, is taken in by Johann Maelzel, owner of the Turk, a chess-playing automaton. They can't seem to escape the mysterious Woman in Black, or the attention of Edgar Allan Poe, who aims to expose their operation for the fraud it is. Blackwood excels in writing historical fiction that is as informative as it is entertaining.
Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
March, 2014