A Corner of White (The Colors of Madeleine Series #1)

by Jaclyn Moriarty

Overview

“[A] fantasy series opener unlike anything else out there . . . Quirky, charming, funny, sad: another winner from this always-surprising author.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

A Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book

A Kirkus Best Book of the Year

A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year

A Horn Book Fanfare Book

This is a tale of missing persons. Madeleine and her mother have run away from their former life, under mysterious circumstances, and settled in a rainy corner of Cambridge (in our world).

Elliot, on the other hand, is in search of his father, who disappeared on the night his uncle was found dead. The talk in the town of Bonfire (in the Kingdom of Cello) is that Elliot’s dad may have killed his brother and run away with the Physics teacher. But Elliot refuses to believe it. And he is determined to find both his dad and the truth.

As Madeleine and Elliot move closer to unraveling their mysteries, they begin to exchange messages across worlds—through an accidental gap that hasn’t appeared in centuries. But even greater mysteries are unfolding on both sides of the gap: dangerous weather phenomena called “color storms”; a strange fascination with Isaac Newton; the myth of the “Butterfly Child,” whose appearance could end the droughts of Cello; and some unexpected kisses . . .

“Startlingly original fantasy.” —E. Lockhart, #1 New York Times–bestselling author

“A marvelous novel—in every sense of the word.” —Deborah Harkness, #1 New York Times–bestselling author

“[A] genre-blending feat of stylistic energy.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)

“Moriarty’s marvelously original fantasy is quirky and clever.” —Booklist

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545510219
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	08/17/2022
Series:	Colors of Madeleine Series , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	428
Lexile:	800L (what's this?)
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Jaclyn Moriarty is the award-winning author of A Corner of White, The Cracks in the Kingdom, A Tangle of Gold, The Year of Secret Assignments, The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie, The Ghosts of Ashbury High, and The Spell Book of Listen Taylor. A former media and entertainment lawyer, Jaclyn grew up in Sydney, Australia, lived in the United States, Canada, and UK, and now lives in Sydney again. She is very fond of chocolate, blueberries, and sleep.

Read an Excerpt

From THE COLORS OF MADELEINE #1: A CORNER OF WHITEShe leaned her bike against a wall and saw it again — that fine line of white along the seam of the parking meter. She tried to pull it out with her fingertips but it was too deeply embedded. By holding two fingernails, one above and one below, she managed to grasp the edge of the paper and slowly draw it out. It was a thin piece of paper, folded in half. She unfolded it and read: Help me! I am being held against my will! She laughed aloud, looking at the base of the parking meter: the split concrete. "You're trying to escape," she said, then glanced around to check that nobody had seen her talking to a parking meter. The street was empty.It was growing dark, everything turning shades of grey. The paper in the palm of her hand made her shudder suddenly.I am being held against my will!What if it was real? A message from a stranger who was trapped? Strange place to put it, though, she thought, and smiled again. I am being held against my will. On the darkening path, she took paper from her backpack, and she wrote a reply to the note.She folded it and slid it into the parking meter until it too was nothing but a fine white line. Then she rode away.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 6–9—In this lovely fantasy, two stories run parallel. Fourteen-year-old Madeleine lives in Cambridge, England, where she is adjusting to life without her dad. Elliot lives in the Kingdom of Cello, where his search for his dad is postponed by the deplorable state of crops at home. If it were not for the tiny portal in a parking meter, Madeleine and Elliot would not have started writing letters back and forth. The story is told through the teens' communications and an omniscient narrator. This mix allows readers to know Madeleine and Elliot and their problems intimately, but it also gives them an aerial view of events, helps them meet the richly drawn secondary characters, and allows them to see the ingenious way in which the protagonists' lives ultimately combine. Attacks by "Colors," "living organisms: a kind of rogue subclass of the colors that we see when we look at a red apple or blue sky" keep the townspeople on edge, and Elliot wonders if his dad were killed during one of them. Mysteries abound. Is Madeleine's mom's strange behavior due to her inability to cope with poverty, or is something else going on? Why doesn't Madeleine's dad answer her letter, and is she somehow to blame for his absence? Ultimately, this is a story of two teenagers helping each other figure out their places in their respective worlds.—Jennifer Prince, Buncombe County Public Libraries, NC

School Library Journal

Two worlds coexist in this fascinating first book in Moriarty's Colors of Madeleine series. Bright, enigmatic 14-year-old Madeleine has moved to Cambridge, England, with her mother, where she receives home schooling from a small group of eccentric teachers, along with friends Jack and Belle. Madeleine accidentally makes contact with the fantastical Kingdom of Cello when she discovers a message poking out of a broken parking meter. She begins a written correspondence with 15-year-old Elliott, a boy living in the Cellian farming town of Bonfire, where Colors, "a kind of rogue subclass of the colors that we see," are known to attack and kill (Elliott's father was the alleged victim of a "Purple"), and the arrival of the fabled "Butterfly Child" is an auspicious sign. As the narrative alternates between Cello and Cambridge, some readers may be frustrated by the slow unfolding of events, yet moments of sharp observation, startling invention, and delightfully comic dialogue confirm Moriarty as a genre-bending author who gracefully weaves metaphysical questions into outwardly ordinary circumstances. Ages 12–up. Agent: Jill Grinberg Literary Management. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for A Corner of White:A Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor BookA Kirkus Best Book of the YearA School Library Journal Best Book of the YearA Horn Book Fanfare Book"Jaclyn Moriarty makes me laugh, hysterically — and cry, unexpectedly... Startlingly original fantasy." — E. Lockhart, New York Times bestselling author of We Were Liars"A marvelous novel — in every sense of the word... A Corner of White slips through a previously unnoticed crack in the reader's heart and changes everything." — Deborah Harkness, New York Times bestselling author of A Discovery of Witches* "Quirky, charming, funny, sad: another winner from this always-surprising author." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review* "Irresistible characters help readers navigate a tantalizingly complex plot that will leave them eagerly awaiting the next book." — Horn Book, starred review* "In this lovely fantasy... mysteries abound." — School Library Journal, starred review* "[A] genre-blending feat of stylistic energy... The plotting is as innovative and riveting as the world-making." — Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review

From the Publisher

Another one of a kind from the inimitable Moriarty, this time, a barely epistolary fantasy series opener unlike anything else out there. Fourteen-year-old Madeleine lives in Cambridge, England, with her zany mother in uncertain circumstances, having run away from their fabulously privileged international existence. Meanwhile, Elliot lives in Bonfire, The Farms, Cello, a parallel reality that might be the real fairyland (although that's never explicitly stated, and this version seems utterly unlike most versions of fairyland). Through a crack between their worlds, they begin exchanging letters, although more of the novel is about one or the other of these two appealing characters than about their moments of intersection. Elliot wants to find his father, who disappeared mysteriously, while Madeleine wants to be found by hers and is also navigating friendship and her mother's deteriorating health. Moriarty's trademark wit and whimsy are on full display, with zingy dialogue that feels right if not entirely realistic and bizarre characters living unexpected lives that manage to be mundane and delightful at the same time. By the end, Madeleine's story feels somewhat resolved, but Elliot's has turned an unexpected corner that will bring their worlds much closer and bring readers more mystery and humor in the next volume. Quirky, charming, funny, sad: another winner from this always-surprising author. (Fantasy. 12 & up)

Kirkus Reviews