Frances Hardinge

A Skinful of Shadows is a dark YA historical fantasy set in the early part of the English Civil War. Kate is an illegitimate daughter of the aristocratic Fellmotte family, and as such, she shares their unique hereditary gift: the capacity to be possessed by ghosts. Reluctant to accept her appointed destiny as vessel for a coterie of her ancestors, she escapes. As she flees the pursuing Fellmottes across war-torn England, she accumulates a motley crew of her own allies, including outcasts, misfits, criminals, and one extremely angry dead bear. From Costa Book of the Year winner Frances Hardinge comes a new dark historical fantasy that's sure to satisfy her leagues of fans who are eager for more.

A Skinful of Shadows

Natalie Sypeck 

Humans are strange, adaptable animals, and eventually get used to anything, even the impossible or unbearable. Beauty living in the Beast's castle doubtless had her routines, her little irritarions and a great deal of boredom. Terror is tiring, and difficult to keep up indefinitely, so sooner or later it must be replaced by something more practical.

Savindi Jinasena

3.5-4 Stars. 

I don't think this book was as good as The Lie Tree. Makepeace wasn't as interesting as a character as Faith was. I think the Fellemotes were much more interesting. I would have liked to learn more about them because I wanted to know how their gift originated. I feel like I would have benefitted if there was a timeline in the book because I'm not familiar with King Charles' reign. 

 Humans are strange, adaptable animals, and eventually get used to anything, even the impossible or unbearable. Intime the unthinkable becomes normal.

Overall, a good read, but not my favourite by Hardinge. I'd still recommend it though.

Shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year 2017. 'A Skinful of Shadows confirms Hardinge's status as one of our finest storytellers. It's rare to find a book which is every bit as intelligent and stylish as it is riveting - I was enthralled' - Sarah Perry, author of The Essex Serpent. Frances Hardinge weaves a dark, otherworldly tale in A Skinful of Shadows, her first book since the Costa Award-winning The Lie Tree. When a creature dies, its spirit can go looking for somewhere to hide. Some people have space inside them, perfect for hiding. Makepeace, a courageous girl with a mysterious past, defends herself nightly from the ghosts which try to possess her. Then a dreadful event causes her to drop her guard for a moment. And now there's a ghost inside her. The spirit is wild, brutish and strong, but it may be her only defence in a time of dark suspicion and fear. As the English Civil War erupts, Makepeace must decide which is worse: possession – or death.

Janice Hopper

Makepeace is growing up in the time of Charles I and the coming battles between the Crown and Parliament. She's also finding that she can see ghosts. And that ghosts can see her, and sometimes try to possess her. Her mother tries to toughen her up against these ghostly assaults by locking her up in the local church, by the local graveyard, so that she can learn to fight back and not be such easy prey for these desperate spirits. Of course, this is hard and traumatic for Makepeace. 

Then she loses her mother, and ends up going to live with her biological father's family. That's where she finds out where her ghost abilities come from, and what they're used for in that family. And it's not pretty or happy. She meets a half-brother there. They plot to escape the house, and actually try many times, but are always brought back. You can't let assets or potential vessels escape, after all. But Makepeace keeps plotting to get away.

Then the war comes, and everything goes pear-shaped.

I've heard a lot about Frances Hardinge, but this is the first book I've actually read by her. She reminds me a bit of Franny Billingsley, who I like very much indeed. Hardinge is a bit darker, I think. But both authors have plucky heroines who don't back down.

Shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year 2017'A Skinful of Shadows confirms Hardinge's status as one of our finest storytellers. It's rare to find a book which is every bit as intelligent and stylish as it is riveting - I was enthralled' - Sarah Perry, author of The Essex SerpentFrances Hardinge weaves a dark, otherworldly tale in A Skinful of Shadows, her first book since the Costa Award-winning The Lie Tree.When a creature dies, its spirit can go looking for somewhere to hide. Some people have space inside them, perfect for hiding.Makepeace, a courageous girl with a mysterious past, defends herself nightly from the ghosts which try to possess her. Then a dreadful event causes her to drop her guard for a moment.And now there's a ghost inside her.The spirit is wild, brutish and strong, but it may be her only defence in a time of dark suspicion and fear. As the English Civil War erupts, Makepeace must decide which is worse: possession - or death.

Libby G

Wow I LOVED this book. It was so different. I had never heard of this author before which is strange since I really enjoyed her style of writing. Dark, a little twisted, and super different from anything else I’ve read. My only complaint was that I felt it dragged on a little bit. *4.75 stars

Cerys

A good read. The plot of this novel is what drew me in and it did not disappoint, even though it was not what I expected. However, even though I did enjoy this novel I would personally class this as an average read.

Frances Hardinge weaves another darkly extraordinary tale in A Skinful of Shadows, her follow up to the Costa Award-winning novel The Lie Tree'Hardinge is an unusual talent who deserves to be read by children and adults alike'GuardianThis is the story of a bear-hearted girl . . .Sometimes, when a person dies, their spirit goes looking for somewhere to hide. Some people have space within them, perfect for hiding. Twelve-year-old Makepeace has learned to defend herself from the ghosts which try to possess her in the night, desperate for refuge, but one day a dreadful event causes her to drop her guard. And now there's a spirit inside her. The spirit is wild, brutish and strong, and it may be her only defence when she is sent to live with her father's rich and powerful ancestors. There is talk of civil war, and they need people like her to protect their dark and terrible family secret. But as she plans her escape and heads out into a country torn apart by war, Makepeace must decide which is worse: possession - or death.

Judy McClure

Amanda Wells

What an interesting book! I don't read many in this age category, but the premise here was too hard to resist - on top of a really pretty cover, too! 

I loved the setting for the story - England 17th C is such a fascinating time... I mean, I know I'm an historian who is particularly interested in British history, so I'm bound to say that - but come on! Civil war! Parliament vs King! Fascinating!

And piling a magical realism type story on top of this was just so exciting. If I had read this when I was an early teen - boy. I would have had SO. MANY. DAYDREAMS. 

The only thing that prevented me giving it five stars was that I felt the characters outside Makepeace weren't as developed as they could have been. I know that's a challenge in this category, because you don't want to make the story so long no one would pick it up - but I think I just wanted a little more complexity from the people around Makepeace. I do love where we ended up with Makepeace's understanding of her mother. That was really well done.

In all, I definitely recommend it. Really interesting premise, really interesting period of history (honestly! Although it doesn't feature the details too heavily so don't be scared off by that), well written, and well paced.

sara louise

“what a time we live in — even the stars are falling.”

if you enjoy the following:

- ghosts
- war centred stories
- 17th century england
- complicated family relations
- a slower paced character driven story

you will probably really enjoy this book, unfortunately only the first applies to me, which is why it was only an alright read for me. 

there were some parts in this that I really loved, but they were dragged down by the rest of it, which had me zoning out. I don’t have a lot to say about this one, it wasn’t amazing but it was by no means bad. 

“terror is tiring, and difficult to keep up indefinitely, so sooner or later it must be replaced by something more practical.”

Anastaciya

I really like the author's writing... for this book, I wish I knew more about the time period, would've been more interesting to me.

everlinet

Very good idea, which kind of scares me a bit because having souls of other people and animals in your head is just a bit scary. But. So. Cool! I loved the beginning of the book more than the second part of it, which wasn’t as good. But overall very good book, the ideas and characters. 
I missed some romance again, but could live with it really. It was pleasant read, I liked the original aspects of it. Not a random fantasy book, this one is very specific.

Alison

Marissa

Charlotte Huijsmans

Chiara Carbone

katherine

Grace Piper

This is the story of a bear-hearted girl... As a young child, Makepeace Danners was sent by her mother to sleep in the graveyard. Told it was to build her defences against the spirits that lurked there, she spent night after night bedded down amongst the ghosts, with only mice and rats for company. As she grew older, Makepeace realised that she had a strange talent. There is a space inside her which can be filled by the spirits of the dead. This talent marks her as very interesting to the Felmotte family, the rich and powerful ancestors from whom she has inherited it. Her mother hopes her childhood training will protect her from them, but one fateful day Makepeace lets her guard down, and now she has a spirit inside her. The spirit is wild, brutish and strong, and it may be her only defence when the Felmotte family come to claim her as one of their own. There is talk of civil war, and they need people with talents such as hers to protect their dark and terrible family secret. But as she plans her escape and heads out into a country torn apart by war, Makepeace must decide which is worse: possession - or death. A Skinful of Shadows is the new dark historical tale from Frances Hardinge,Costa Award-winning author of The Lie Tree.

A Skinful of Shadows

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