Yesternight: A Novel

by Cat Winters

Overview

From the author of The Uninvited comes a haunting historical novel with a compelling mystery at its core.  A young child psychologist steps off a train, her destination a foggy seaside town. There, she begins a journey causing her to question everything she believes about life, death, memories, and reincarnation.

In 1925, Alice Lind steps off a train in the rain-soaked coastal hamlet of Gordon Bay, Oregon. There, she expects to do nothing more difficult than administer IQ tests to a group of rural schoolchildren. A trained psychologist, Alice believes mysteries of the mind can be unlocked scientifically, but now her views are about to be challenged by one curious child.

Seven-year-old Janie O’Daire is a mathematical genius, which is surprising. But what is disturbing are the stories she tells: that her name was once Violet, she grew up in Kansas decades earlier, and she drowned at age nineteen. Alice delves into these stories, at first believing they’re no more than the product of the girl’s vast imagination.  But, slowly, Alice comes to the realization that Janie might indeed be telling a strange truth.

Alice knows the investigation may endanger her already shaky professional reputation, and as a woman in a field dominated by men she has no room for mistakes. But she is unprepared for the ways it will illuminate terrifying mysteries within her own past, and in the process, irrevocably change her life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062440853
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	10/04/2016
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	8,403
File size:	766 KB

About the Author

Cat Winters's debut novel, In the Shadow of Blackbirds, was released to widespread critical acclaim. The novel has been named a finalist for the 2014 Morris Award, a School Library Journal Best Book of 2013, and a Booklist 2013 Top 10 Horror Fiction for Youth. Winters lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two children.

Editorial Reviews

Yesternight is a story that is unassumingly haunting.” — Kirkus Reviews

“A haunting, unforgettable read.” — Simone St James author of Lost Among the Living

“Atmospheric and spooky with real gothic flair, the latest from Winters (The Uninvited) introduces a realistically flawed heroine stifled by the conventions of her time.” — Library Journal

“Winters follows The Uninvited with another gripping historical novel, this one an exploration of the effects of suppressed trauma and desire. [...]in this well-written tale that is suspenseful in all the right places, and will keep readers guessing at every page.” — Emily Park, Booklist

“[…] Be warned; this is not a simple mystery with a paranormal twist. Here is a story of possible reincarnation and madness that grips readers from the opening dreary, cold moment to the end and leaves one feeling unsettled, yet satisfied [...] Not a tale for the gentle reader.” — RT Book Reviews

“This novel is engaging, gripping, and features an extraordinary main character in Alice, a woman ahead of her time, intent on independence.” — Book Riot

From the Publisher

Winters follows The Uninvited with another gripping historical novel, this one an exploration of the effects of suppressed trauma and desire. [...]in this well-written tale that is suspenseful in all the right places, and will keep readers guessing at every page.

Emily Park

A haunting, unforgettable read.

Simone St James author of Lost Among the Living

This novel is engaging, gripping, and features an extraordinary main character in Alice, a woman ahead of her time, intent on independence.

Book Riot

[…] Be warned; this is not a simple mystery with a paranormal twist. Here is a story of possible reincarnation and madness that grips readers from the opening dreary, cold moment to the end and leaves one feeling unsettled, yet satisfied [...] Not a tale for the gentle reader.

RT Book Reviews

09/15/2016
In 1925, child psychologist Alice Lind travels to the stormy coast of Oregon to test the learning abilities of the local children. Michael O'Daire picks her up at the station and offers her a place to stay while she's in town. He hopes that Alice can help his seven-year-old daughter, Janie, who believes she lived a past life. As Alice learns more of Janie's story and gathers evidence that the girl might really be experiencing something beyond scientific explanation, she is also drawn into the lives of the child's parents, particularly the dangerously handsome Michael. While there's more than a dash of melodrama in Alice's romantic entanglements, the author does a good job of building suspense about whether Janie's experiences could be real, with a skeptical Scully-like Alice confronted with events beyond what her psychology training can explain. VERDICT Atmospheric and spooky with real gothic flair, the latest from Winters (The Uninvited) introduces a realistically flawed heroine stifled by the conventions of her time.—MM

Library Journal

03/01/2017
This work of historical fiction set in the 1920s centers on Alice Lind, who became a school psychologist to understand her own childhood nightmares and sporadic violent behavior. When Alice is sent to the wild coast of Oregon to help young Janie, a seven-year-old who believes she was once an adult woman who drowned, Alice's own past haunts her, and she becomes convinced that reincarnation is real. There are too many coincidences for her to accept that Janie is just a genius mathematician. A brief dalliance with Janie's divorced father complicates matters—is Alice really a "loose" woman with no morals, like her ex-boyfriends say? Or is she a professional woman ahead of her time? Teens who have read Winters's Morris Award finalist In the Shadow of Blackbirds will find the hints of the paranormal in this novel familiar. At times, Alice seems more like a teenager in modern times than an adult woman in the 1920s, but her investigation into the two incidents of possible reincarnation will fascinate readers. The Oregon, Nebraska, and Kansas rural settings are enthralling, as are the problems Alice encounters as a psychologist in a male-dominated field. VERDICT Perfect for teens wanting mystery, historical fiction, and a touch of the unexplainable.—Sarah Hill, Lake Land College, Mattoon IL

School Library Journal