Palace Beautiful
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4.9 • 24 Ratings
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
A secret room plus a hidden journal written during the Flu Pandemic of 1918 make for an emotional, magical middle-grade read.
When sisters Sadie and Zuzu move to Salt Lake City, they discover an old journal in a secret room in their new house. Along with their neighbor, Bella, the girls take turns reading the story of a girl named Helen who lived during the flu epidemic of 1918. They soon become wrapped up in Helen's tale, which ends with a tragedy that has a scary parallel to Sadie and Zuzu's lives. Did Helen survive the flu? Is she still alive somewhere? Or could her ghost be watching them?
A NYPL 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Soon after 13-year-old Sadie arrives with her family at their new home in 1985 Salt Lake City, she meets a ghost-obsessed girl who calls herself Bella, and discovers an attic nook named Palace Beautiful. Sadie loves painting and colors especially naming them (chapters are titled cave-dwelling white and spontaneous-combustion scarlet ). Sadie s mother died giving birth to her younger sister, Zuzu, and Sadie harbors anger about that, as well as fear that her pregnant stepmother, Sherrie, may suffer a similar fate. Sadie, Bella, and Zuzu find a journal in Palace Beautiful written by Helen, a girl their age whose family was stricken with influenza in 1918, and whose fears parallel Sadie s. Debut author Williams s vivid prose brings both Sadie and Helen s worlds to life, and narrator Sadie is a particularly perhaps overly precocious observer ( Dad found Sherrie a year and a half ago. She came from Neiman Marcus in Dallas. Dad saw her working at the makeup counter and they fell in love ). Through moments of heartache and joy, Sadie s strong, contemplative spirit shines through, as does the thrill of discovering a secret place of one s one. Ages 10 up.
Customer Reviews
I love it
i had to do a book report on any book i wanted and i chose this one. it describes the story so well. sarah deford williams is the best author ever. in the back of the book underneath "about the author" it says that this is her first book .i say this is THE first best book ever.
Great!
This book is the best book I've ever read! The descriptions are amazing. This book is very well written. I love it.