The Mirk and Midnight Hour

January 13, 2014
As if it isn’t enough that Violet’s twin brother was killed in the Civil War, her family’s quiet Mississippi farm is changing in every way possible: before enlisting, her father remarries, giving Violet both an invalid stepmother and a spoiled stepsister, and he also agrees to take in Violet’s young cousin, Seeley. Adding more complications are the mysterious Doctor VanZeldt and his African companions, as well as a wounded Union soldier tucked away in the woods. Nickerson’s Strands of Bronze and Gold retold the Bluebeard story in antebellum Mississippi; this is a version of the Scottish tale of Tam Lin, with the fairy folk and their magic replaced by the VanZeldt’s voodoo. Tomboyish Violet’s interactions with Seeley and the Union soldier are charming, but Nickerson overburdens the book with plot, and the Civil War setting ends up an odd combination of special pleading (Violet is an unusually enlightened slave holder) and stereotype (the Africans are often described as moving with a feral grace), making for an overwrought jumble of the domestic and the fantastic. Ages 14–up. Agent: Wendy Schmalz, Wendy Schmalz Agency.