Prelude for Lost Souls

June 15, 2020
Welcome to St. Hilaire, New York, a town that speaks to the dead. Daniel "Dec" Hampton, still reeling from the deaths of his parents two years ago, feels suffocated by the rules and regulations set forth by the Guild, the authoritarian town council, and anxiously awaits the day he can leave. Russ Griffin, Dec's best friend, struggles with his mother's abandonment and desperately wants the coveted spot of Student Leader, a placement that will lead to a permanent Guild position after high school. Talented teen pianist Anastasia Krylova has recently lost her mentor, whose last request is that Annie find the missing portion of the Unfinished Prelude, a composition with an enigmatic history. When fate brings Annie to Dec's door, the lives of all three teens are upended in unexpected and mysterious ways. How is Annie connected to Tristan, the ghost who occupies Dec's home--and how is Tristan linked to the Prelude? Will Dec leave St. Hilaire, or will he be trapped here forever? Can Russ pass muster as a medium to gain his place with the Guild? Dec, Russ, and Annie share the first-person narration; each has a distinct voice. Dec's is angry while Russ' is brooding and Annie's is grief-stricken; the story may resonate with readers who have experienced loss. The setting is inspired by Lily Dale, the spiritualist community in upstate New York. All characters are assumed white. A quietly compelling story. (Paranormal mystery. 14-18)

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June 29, 2020
In the small town of St. Hilaire, N.Y., everyone is judged on the strength of their ability to speak with and summon the spirits of the dead. Pianist Daniel “Dec” Hampton just wants to escape his deceased parents’ legacy and leave as soon as possible, while his best friend Russ Griffin yearns for the prestige of joining the town’s Guild Youth Corps as a student leader. The teens’ plans are disrupted when 17-year-old piano prodigy Anastasia “Annie” Krylova is temporarily stranded in St. Hilaire en route to the funeral of her mentor, Dmitry Petrov. Bonding over their love of music, Dec and Annie attempt to fulfill Dmitry’s lifelong quest—finding the missing portions of the Unfinished Prelude, a mysterious piece of music that seems tied to St. Hilaire and Dec’s family. But as they and Russ speak with the dead, they stumble across the town’s darker secrets. Combined with the story’s many elements, a meandering plot saps the mystery’s sense of urgency, but Dunbar invokes small-town intrigue and plentiful atmosphere with this haunting, romantic tale. Ages 14–up. Agent: Lauren MacLeod, Strothman Agency.

August 21, 2020

Gr 9 Up-A town full of honest-to-goodness spiritualists is noteworthy to the tourists who flock to St. Hilaire every summer. But living behind the locked gate of the town can be stifling, and dark-haired Dec wants out. He dreams of being out from under the Guild, St. Hilaire's town council, and away from the place that holds a prescribed future and bad memories of his past. His best friend, pale-skinned Russ, on the other hand, would do anything to impress the Guild for a chance to be in the youth corps and, eventually, join their ranks. When a famous piano prodigy, Annie, finds herself stranded in St. Hilaire, Dec, Russ, and Annie's destinies intertwine as they work together to undo a musical curse of the distant past. Told in alternating first-person narration, readers get to know St. Hilaire from the perspective of insiders-one who wants to leave and one who wants to be in power-and outsiders-a living pianist and a long-dead composer. The main characters find first love and independence alongside ghosts, mediums, supernatural romance, tarot, and runes. VERDICT Fans of Lauren Myracle's darker novels will appreciate Dunbar's balance of the extraordinary and the typical.-Jennifer Miskec, Longwood Univ., Farmville, VA

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