The Marsh Keeper

by E L Werbitsky

Overview

Some secrets aren't meant to be shared...

Sixteen-year-old Calvin Hughes can see human energy and in that revealing light learns the best and worst of the people around him.

He tells no one what he sees, until a young girl vanishes beneath the marsh and the truth behind her tragedy is too disturbing to hide.

But when enchantments lure Cal toward the haunted waters and his sole confidante betrays him, Cal discovers the danger of knowing too much and the price for sharing secrets, especially one that could change the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798886530780
Publisher:	Fire & Ice Young Adult Books
Publication date:	02/20/2023
Series:	The Marsh Keeper , #1
Pages:	310
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.65(d)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

Editorial Reviews

2023-06-22
In Werbitsky’s YA fantasy debut, a teenage boy who sees human auras must cope with persecution while investigating a young girl’s disappearance.

High school junior Calvin Hughes lives in West Shelby, a marshy town in Orleans County, New York. When Cal was 5, he had an encounter with a mysterious hooded figure by the local creek that left him with the ability to see colored energy clouds around people that reflect their emotions and often presage their behavior: “Before a person acted upon an idea or a feeling, it swirled in their energy field first.” Except his sister Eva, who’s now a high school senior, Cal has never told anyone of his ability, but his insights have nonetheless made him an outsider. The one person who isn’t leery of him is classmate Star McClellan, a rebel whose skull-shaped earrings belie an angelic energy cloud. Cal likes Star, and she likes him, but Star has her own secret: She sees visions of the future, including one that shows Cal drowning while trying to save her life. Determined to avoid this outcome, she pushes Cal away. Cal, however, is determined to help Star by uncovering the truth behind her 4-year-old sister’s disappearance. Werbitsky’s prose and dialogue create an eerie sense of dislocation and show the everyday vicissitudes of teenage life both inside and outside school. Cal’s and Eva’s characterizations are particularly refreshing; Cal, for instance, is never at peace with his ability, and for a self-defeating stretch midway through the book, he leaps at the chance to be “normal” and becomes rather unlikable in the process. Eva is not the ally one might expect but rather a force of active antagonism; yet for all her sibling jealousy, she eventually proves uncommonly reasonable. The story moves at a good pace, fueled by teenage travails and supernatural developments; the latter are left unresolved, and although this makes for a less than satisfying conclusion if the book is judged as a stand-alone, it makes the prospect of a sequel appealing.

An often poetic exploration of the good and evil in everyday teenage life, enhanced by offbeat characters.

Kirkus Reviews