The Glass Demon: A Novel

by Helen Grant

Overview

Sometimes the path to the truth is paved with broken glass. 
 
Teenager Lin Fox is a stranger in a strange land—Germany, where her father has come on a quixotic quest to locate a priceless artifact. The medieval (and possibly mythical) Allerheiligen stained glass is believed by some to be lost, by others to have been destroyed, and by virtually all to be haunted. A mysterious letter persuades Dr. Oliver Fox that he can be the one to find it—but someone else is determined to ensure that the glass stays hidden forever.

First, an elderly stranger is found dead in an orchard, then one of Oliver’s contacts is mysteriously drowned—both bodies inexplicably surrounded by shards of colored glass. As dark superstitions simmer, Lin embarks on her own search to find the glass. As her life comes to resemble the grimmest of fairy tales, she realizes that what she must find is not only the truth about the legendary glass but a way to save the lives of those she loves.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780385344203
Publisher:	Random House Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/14/2011
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.96(h) x 0.66(d)

About the Author

Helen Grant is the author of The Glass Demon and The Vanishing of Katharina Linden, winner of the American Library Association Alex Award and shortlisted for the Booktrust Teenage Prize and the CILIP Carnegie Medal.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "The Glass Demon"
by .
Copyright © 2011 Helen Grant.
Excerpted by permission of Random House Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

Grant (The Vanishing of Katharina Linden) turns in a spectacular mix of history and horror that expertly draws from numerous genres. Obsessed medievalist Oliver Fox moves his family to a castle on the edge of a German forest in search of the Allerheiligen glass, a supposedly cursed set of stained-glass church windows lost or destroyed 200 years before. The Glass Demon, Bonschariant, said to inhabit the windows, shadows the search from the moment Fox's unhappy teen daughter Lin discovers a corpse surrounded by shattered glass. As Lin gets to know her young neighbor, Michel Reinartz, she becomes aware of the locals' hostility toward any investigation of the lost glass, while a series of uncanny incidents escalates horrifically. Skillfully mixing the strains of a dysfunctional family with the rising terror of the supernatural, Grant has produced a mesmerizing page-turner that brilliantly depicts the claustrophobic fear of a young woman grappling with the deadly secrets of the forest and the demonic nightmare lurking within. (June)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Glass Demon

A spectacular mix of history and horror that expertly draws from numerous genres….Skillfully mixing the strains of a dysfunctional family with the rising terror of the supernatural, Grant has produced a mesmerizing page-turner that brilliant depicts the claustrophobic fear of a young woman grappling with the deadly secrets of the forest and the demonic nightmare lurking within.”  —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Sure to cement her growing reputation as an original storyteller and elegant writer…. Grant expertly builds suspense….
With its fascinating information on medieval folklore,unique setting, and increasingly claustrophobic sense of terror, this is an exhilarating page-turner that offers a cerebral blend of horror and mystery.”  
—Booklist (starred review)


“Page-turning and portentous, mysterious and chilling, this will attract readers who loved Pamela Dean’s Tam Lin and fairy tales and legends in modern settings.”  
—Library Journal


“The Glass Demon is a riveting tale from Helen Grant, who proves she is a master of suspense.  From beginning to end, I was kept guessing by this spine-tingling tale that interweaves family relationships, folklore, deadly glass, and dangerous secrets.”  —Stefanie Pintoff, Edgar Award-winning author of In the Shadow of Gotham

"Skillfully mixing the strains of a dysfunctional family with the rising terror of the supernatural, Grant has produced a mesmerizing page-turner that brilliantly depicts the claustrophobic fear of a young woman grappling with the deadly secrets of the forest and the demonic nightmare lurking within." -Publisher's Weekly, starred review

“A gripping and atmospheric adventure.”—The Observer (U.K.)

Praise for Helen Grant’s The Vanishing of Katharina Linden, winner of the ALA Alex Award and shortlisted for the Booktrust Teenage Prize and the CILIP Carnegie Medal

“Steeped in spooky legends and set in a country that, for all its present-day serenity, can’t fully escape the burden of its harrowing past, this is a mystery with unusual resonance.”—The Washington Post
 
“A contemporary story that feels age-old, too . . . dotted with creepy tales.”—The New York Times

From the Publisher

Grant's debut novel, The Vanishing of Katharina Linden, burned darkly, unsettling yet enthralling the reader from the first page. I loved it. So I'm eager to see this second novel about a girl whose father moves the family to Germany so that he can continue searching for a mythic glass artifact. Someone or something (real? supernatural?) keeps throwing stones in their way.

Library Journal