For fans of Fever 1793 comes the story of a young woman paving her own path and falling in love during the Great Plague of 1348 , from the award-winning creator of What the Night Sings . Edyth grew up in a quiet village with a loving family, before losing everything she holds dear in the blink of an eye. Suddenly sent to live in a priory and work with ancient texts, Edyth must come to terms with her new life and the gifts she discovers in herself. But outside the priory, something much worse is coming. With the reappearance of a boy from her past and the ominous Great Plague creeping closer and closer to the priory, it will be up to Edyth to rise above it all and save herself. From the award-winning author-illustrator of What the Night Sings comes a new journey of self-discovery and love in the most uncertain times. Gr 6 Up-After a series of misfortunes, 16-year-old Edyth gets sent off to Saint Christopher's Priory, where she discovers an unexpected home and passion. While there, she works in the Scriptorium, eventually becoming an illuminator, where her abilities fully blossom. Not only does this headstrong young woman love to draw, she has synesthesia-colors accompany sounds and smells-making her uniquely qualified to confront the forthcoming disaster. Stamper purposefully flips between past and present events and tenses to gradually reveal Edie's upbringing, new life, and a slice of the medieval world during the Great Plague of 1348. The historical parts are well-researched and influence aesthetic choices. Every chapter has one full-color illustration painted in a style inspired by medieval art. These, along with an array of descriptions, convey much about Edie's unique sensory perception. This book warns against extreme reactions to plague and death. It carefully avoids placing blame on social structures or religion, instead pointing to fear and mob mentality. While there is a miraculous element, the solution ultimately comes from the strength and faith of Edie and her bonds with others. Stamper's art style depicts characters' skin as the same white as the page, and Edyth is drawn with long black hair. VERDICT A timely, historically inspired work about women's roles and surviving the Great Plague that teens can use as a comparison to their own predicaments.-Rachel Forbes, Oakville P.L., Ont.α(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. “ Beautifully written , richly imaginative, and graced with fully realized characters. . . . A feast for fans of historical fiction with a magic twist.”  —Booklist , starred review “Stamper’s  dark and well-researched historical tale moves swiftly, incorporating elements of the miraculous and affectingly punctuated with elegant watercolor illustrations in hues that recall illuminated texts.” — Publishers Weekly “Edyth’s narration builds a rich picture of the Middle Ages , both in the beauty of the ink and the illuminating she eventually works on and the merciless reality of the bubonic plague, and her synesthesia gives a striking elegance to her descriptions.” — The Bulletin “The impression that will linger in the minds of those who read this expansive, beautifully crafted novel is the triumph of empathy above all.” —Bookpage Born in Germany and raised in New York City, Vesper Stamper has been an illustrator for over 20 years and now also writes and illustrates novels of historical fiction, including her upcoming novel, A Cloud of Outrageous Blue. Her debut illustrated YA novel, What the Night Sings, about two teens emerging from the Holocaust, was a National Book Award Nominee, National Jewish Book Award Finalist, Morris Award Finalist, Golden Kite Honor Book, Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner, and was named a Best YA Book of 2018/9 by YALSA, Wall Street Journal and Kirkus. Vesper has a BFA in Illustration from Parsons and an MFA in Illustration as Visual Essay from School of Visual Arts. She lives with her husband, filmmaker Ben Stamper, and her two teenagers, in the Northeast. -- 1 --  Everyone in the canvas-covered cart is asleep. Four other travelers nestle into the deep straw bed of the cart--strangers, all of us, except for a father and his son of maybe nine or ten years. The old monk there’s a snorer, and it takes him the whole trip to get his bones comfortable. When I got into this cart, the only space had been next to the woman with the gray hair, the pink fleshy face, the gentle-eyed, reticent smile. She made as much room as she could, but someone’s knee or elbow is always in my side--  --like the proverbial thorn. That’s what Mam would have said.  “Tusmore village,” says the driver. “Everyone out who needs a piss.”  The monk needs help getting out, so I lend him a hand. From the gap in the cart cover, the white winter sun blinds me, and when my eyes adjust, it’s like I haven’t left Hartley Cross after all. They look the same, these villages, and each one mak