ACCESS DIGITIZED EDITION
Guide/Reviews Database
OLDER FICTION
Brière-Haquet, Alice

Phalaina

320 pp. | Levine Querido | September, 2022 | Trade ISBN 978-1-64614-182-1 $18.99
(2) YA Translated by Emma Ramadan. Horror, mystery, sci-fi, historical fiction of sorts--this story partakes of all four. Manon is a tiny child when she's left in the woods after a carriage accident and a scientist's violent murder. Saved from the killers by a flock of butterflies, she's rescued by a peasant who commits her to a convent school--whence she escapes, only to become the victim of a cruel scientist. But who--and what--is this child with red eyes? Brière-Haquet keeps the answer well concealed. Switching points of view often, the omniscient narrator gives us bits of story through many characters--among others, a peasant, a detective, a poetess, a nun, even a dog. Letters to Charles Darwin from the murdered scientist are interspersed throughout, raising questions about humanity and humility (e.g., are the ways humans organize themselves the only ways to be?). A novel of ideas cloaked in skulduggery and populated with textbook villains, the story's momentum is created by the threat of mysterious menace hanging over Manon. The tale is set in 1881 London but includes a few vintage American colloquialisms ("gosh darn it," says one character) while suggesting an environmental message pertinent to the present.
Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2022

RELATED 

OLDER FICTION

What Beauty There Is
by Anderson, Cory
OLDER FICTION

Between Perfect and Real
by Stoeve, Ray
OLDER FICTION

Zoe Rosenthal Is Not Lawful Good
by Werlin, Nancy
OLDER FICTION

Home Is Not a Country
by Elhillo, Safia
OLDER FICTION

All Our Hidden Gifts
by O'Donoghue, Caroline
More

Get connected. Join our global community of more than 200,000 librarians and educators.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing.

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?