From School Library Journal

Grade 4–6—From inside Caitlin's head, readers see the very personal aftermath of a middle school shooting that took the life of the older brother she adored. Caitlin is a bright fifth grader and a gifted artist. She also has Asperger's syndrome, and her brother, Devon, was the one who helped her interpret the world. Now she has only her father, a widower who is grieving anew and whose ability to relate to his daughter is limited. A compassionate school counselor works with her, trying to teach her the social skills that are so difficult for her. Through her own efforts and her therapy sessions, she begins to come to terms with her loss and makes her first, tentative steps toward friendship. Caitlin's thought processes, including her own brand of logic, are made remarkably clear. The longer readers spend in the child's world, the more understandable her entirely literal and dispassionate interpretations are. Marred slightly by the portrayal of Devon as a perfect being, this is nonetheless a valuable book. After getting to know Caitlin, young people's tendencies to label those around them as either "normal" or "weird" will seem as simplistic and inadequate a system as it truly is.—Faith Brautigam, Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin, IL
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From Booklist

Ten-year-old Caitlyn hates recess, with all its noise and chaos, and her kind, patient counselor, Mrs. Brook, helps her to understand the reasons behind her discomfort, while offering advice about how to cope with her Asberger’s Syndrome, make friends, and deal with her grief over her older brother’s death in a recent school shooting. She eschews group projects in class, claiming that she doesn’t need to learn how to get along with others, but solitude is neither good for her or her grieving father, and when Caitlyn hears the term closure, she turns to her one trusty friend, her dictionary, and sets out on a mission to find it for both of them. Along the way, Caitlyn makes many missteps, but eventually she does achieve the long-sought closure with great finesse, which is another of her favorite vocabulary words. Allusions to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the portrayal of a whole community’s healing process, and the sharp insights into Caitlyn’s behavior enhance this fine addition to the recent group of books with narrators with autism and Asbergers. Grades 4-7. --Cindy Dobrez

Die Schicksale zweier Frauen, über die Jahrtausende untrennbar miteinander verbunden... In einem einsamen Cottage in Wales wird die junge Lehrerin Jess von rätselhaften Träumen heimgesucht. Sie sieht Eigon, die Tochter des Keltenkönigs, die sich auf der Flucht vor dem grausamen Prätorianer Titus befindet. Jess spürt, dass ihr eigenes Schicksal auf unheilvolle Weise mit dem der Prinzessin verknüpft ist. Eine gefahrvolle Reise in die Vergangenheit beginnt. Britannien 52 n. Chr.: Die Schlacht ist verloren, die keltischen Krieger sind auf der Flucht, und so hört niemand die Schreie, als eine Gruppe kaltblütiger Römer Prinzessin Eigon und ihre Mutter überfallen. Als Geiseln gelangen die Frauen nach Rom, wo Eigons Peiniger Titus ihr fortan nach dem Leben trachtet. Unerwartet erhält sie Hilfe aus der Gegenwart, denn die junge Jess verfolgt in ihren Träumen das Schicksal der keltischen Prinzessin. Doch je tiefer Jess in Eigons Geschichte eintaucht, desto stärker gerät sie selbst in Gefahr: Ihr engster Freund Dan ist besessen von Titus´ Geist und bedroht in seinem Wahnsinn ihr Leben. Jahrtausende trennen die beiden Frauen, aber nur wenn sie die Grenzen der Zeit überwinden, können sie sich gemeinsam gegen ihre Feinde stellen. Ihr Weg führt sie zurück nach Wales, wo es auf einem antiken Schlachtfeld zu einem letzten entscheidenden Kampf kommt. Packend, leidenschaftlich und exzellent recherchiert.

In 1218 an extraordinary princess is born, whose mystical powers and unquenchable spirit will alter the course of history…

Jo Clifford, a successful journalist, is all set to disprove hypnosis and past-life regression, until she submits to a simple hypnotic session and finds herself reliving the experiences of Matilda, Lady of Hay, the wife of a baron at the time of King John.

After a broken love affair, Kate Kennedy retreats to a cottage on the Essex coast to work on her latest project. To her alarm, her peace and solitude is replaced by a sense of fear as strange incidents begin to occur – incidents that connect, Kate is sure, with the Roman grave being excavated.

A collection of stories

A briliant new collection of stories, from the Sunday Times bestselling author of HIDING FROM THE LIGHT. As well as being the author of eight bestselling novels, Barbara Erskine is an acclaimed short story writer and this, her third collection, shows her unique power to draw her readers deep into her character's worlds. Here are over twenty stories, some written especially for this volume, and some written over recent years and collected here for the first time. Highlights include a brand-new story in which we find out what happened next to the characters from WHISPERS IN THE SAND.

Barbara Erskine returns with this beautiful and haunting tale of dark forces and mystical powers. In present-day Cambridge, Abi, a recently-ordained priest of the Church of England, is appointed to a notoriously difficult parish. The priest in charge is the charismatic but fundamentalist Kier. He objects to her mysticism, her practice of healing in particular. When she sees a vision of a congregation in an old church, Kier accuses her of witchcraft, but Abi soon sees more visions; an entire Roman family history, dark with betrayal and a promise of bloody revenge. With foreboding forces building up to violence, Abi must battle the approaching terror along with her own personal demons, drawing upon the expertise of Druidry and shamanism from a questionable source…

In Caitlin’s world, everything is black or white. Things are good or bad. Anything in between is confusing. That’s the stuff Caitlin’s older brother, Devon, has always explained. But now Devon’s dead and Dad is no help at all. Caitlin wants to get over it, but as an eleven-year-old girl with Asperger’s, she doesn’t know how. When she reads the definition of closure, she realizes that is what she needs. In her search for it, Caitlin discovers that not everything is black and white — the world is full of colors — messy and beautiful.Kathryn Erskine has written a must-read gem, one of the most moving novels of the year.

Dr Jaqueline Silver blows things up to keep people safe. Working on avalanche control in Slovenia, she stumbles across a delivery problem with a consignment of explosives. After raising a complaint with the supplier, Zagrovyl, a multinational chemical company and her ex-employer, her evidence disappears. She is warned, threatened, accused of professional incompetence and suspended. Taking her complaint to Zagrovyl head office, she narrowly escapes death only to be framed for murder. Escaping from police custody, she sets out to find the key to the mystery. From the snowy slopes of Slovenia, to the wreckage of Chernobyl, Jaq attempts to expose the trade in deadly chemical weapons, while fighting for her life.

NINGÚN autor posee, como John Erskine, el secreto del diálogo. El arte de la conversación, que en algunas épocas históricas ha sido el arte más apasionadamente ensalzado, y a cuyo cultivo dedicaron preclaros talentos sus más privilegiadas sutilezas, encuentra en el autor de LA VIDA PRIVADA DE HELENA DE TROYA un exquisito continuador. Dotados de un lenguaje enteramente nuevo, mas no mixtificado el espíritu con que fueron engendrados, varios personajes de la «Iliada» recobran, en estás páginas, la facultad de expresarse frente a los problemas que les plantea la vida cotidiana, una vez extinguidos los últimos fragores de la guerra de Troya. En la novela se entremezclan curiosamente una ambición de humanidad y una intención de caricatura que han sido las principales causas del resonante éxito universal conseguido por esta obra. Éxito no por excepcional menos justo, pites basta la lectura de cualquier página para acreditar a John Erskine como uno de los espíritus más sagaces y clarividentes de la literatura contemporánea