The Ninth Day

by Ruth Tenzer Feldman

Overview

In this companion novel following the Oregon Book Award-winning Blue Thread, Ruth Tenzer Feldman once again weaves a tale full of history, culture, and fantasy. Hope Friis has struggled with a severe stutter her entire life. As the 1960s Free Speech Movement gains ground in her hometown of Berkeley, California, Hope embarks on a journey back in time—guided by her time-traveling ancestor, Serakh—to the city of Paris, circa 1099 A.D. Her mission: to save the newborn son of the young woman, Dolcette, and find the courage to become a young woman of strength and conviction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781932010657
Publisher:	Ooligan Press
Publication date:	11/15/2013
Series:	The Blue Thread Saga
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Ruth Tenzer Feldman is the author of numerous nonfiction books for children and young adults, including The Fall of Constantinople, How Congress Works, and Don’t Whistle in School: The History of America’s Public Schools. She holds degrees in both law and international relations, and has spent time working as a legislative attorney for the U.S. Department of Education. She lives in Portland, Oregon, where she is a member of the League of Women Voters, the Oregon Historical Society, and the Institute for Judaic Studies. Her first novel, Blue Thread, was published in 2012 and is a finalist for the Oregon Book Award in Young Adult Literature.

Editorial Reviews

2013-10-01
A shy, injured Jewish teen travels from Berkeley's 1964 student protests to 11th-century Paris, where only she can save a newborn. Hope, the granddaughter of Blue Thread's (2012) suffragist heroine, is a lovely singer but has trouble speaking out. She's shy, for one thing, and ashamed of her stutter. She's overwhelmed by her pushy older siblings. And finally, she has facial scarring--and occasional acid flashbacks--from injuries sustained when she accidentally downed LSD disguised as candy. At first, she takes it for a flashback when she's visited by Serakh, a time traveler from biblical times, but Serakh is very real and needs her help. In the year 1099, young Dolcette has just given birth, and her husband, Avram, is convinced a vision has ordered him to kill the child; Serakh is certain Hope will be the child's salvation. Hope wonders if his visions might come from a similar source as her own flashbacks. Meanwhile, in the modern world, Hope's self-absorbed and strong-willed siblings threaten to drag her into more trouble than she can handle. As Hope pops between Hanukkahs nearly 900 years apart, she needs to solve her own family crises while navigating modern radical politics and saving a child's life. A character in the 20th century is rightly condemned (by Hope and the novel) for thinking one can solve other people's problems by slipping them hallucinogens; unfortunately Hope's solution to Avram's problem rests on that very act. Tender and thought-provoking but wobbling on a shaky moral compass. (Historical fantasy. 11-13)

Kirkus Reviews