The Caged Graves

In 1867, 17-year-old Verity Boone returns to her hometown of Catawissa, Pa., to live with her father and meet, for the first time, her fiancé, Nathaniel McClure. She’s jarred by the differences between the village and her previous life in Worchester, Mass., but even more so by an uneasy relationship with her taciturn father, who sent her away as a child after her mother’s sudden death. Meanwhile, the romantic letters and gifts sent by Nate seem to have come from a different man altogether—he appears mainly interested in acquiring her father’s land. Verity is further unsettled when she finds two graves (one belonging to her mother) imprisoned in iron cages outside the cemetery. She collects stories full of gaps and superstitions, but Verity will have to uncover the truth alone (with help from her mother’s journal). Salerni (We Hear the Dead) constructs an absorbing, atmospheric, and dense work of historical fiction. Readers should find Verity’s persistent and risky attempts to dredge up the past compelling, and also relate to her equally significant search for where her heart lies. Ages 12–up. Agent: Sara Crowe, Harvey Klinger. (May)