Title: THE CRESSWELL PLOT Paperback Author: Eliza Wass
Pub. Date: October 10, 2017
Publisher: Disney Press
Pages: 48
Formats: Paperback
Find it: Amazon, B&N, TBD, Goodreads
The woods were insane in the dark, terrifying and magical at the same time. But best of all were the stars, which trumpeted their light into the misty dark.Castella Cresswell and her five siblings-Hannan, Caspar, Mortimer, Delvive, and Jerusalem- know what it's like to be different. For years, their world has been confined to their ramshackle family home deep in the woods of upstate New York. They abide by the strict rule of God, whose messages come directly from their father.
Slowly, Castley and her siblings start to test the boundaries of the laws that bind them. But, at school, they're still the freaks they've always been to the outside world. Marked by their plain clothing. Unexplained bruising. Utter isolation from their classmates. That is, until Castley is forced to partner with the totally irritating, totally normal George Gray, who offers her a glimpse of a life filled with freedom and choice.
Castley's world rapidly expands beyond the woods she knows so well and the beliefs she once thought were the only truths. There is a future waiting for her if she can escape her father's grasp, but Castley refuses to leave her siblings behind. Just as she begins to form a plan, her father makes a chilling announcement: the Cresswells will soon return to their home in heaven. With time running out on all of their lives, Castley must expose the depth of her father's lies. The forest has buried the truth in darkness for far too long. Castley might be their last hope for salvation.
EXCERPT:
Mrs. Fein turned the stage lights on, so if I unfocused my eyes, the audience became a weak and clouded blob. You’re going to die, my brain told me. It was probably a bad sign that death scared me less.Mrs. Fein wasn’t exactly creative when it came to prompts. “Okay. You’re a husband and wife, and you’re having an argument.”
“Hi, honey, I’m home!” George called robustly. His voice echoed through the theater. I saw the orchestra pit. It seemed to open before me, wider and wider, like the void inviting me in. It made me think of Caspar, down in the Grave. Of Jerusalem, hiding her paintings.
I shuddered and forced my eyes upward. The stage lights smeared my eyes.
“Miss Cresswell, you need to participate,” Mrs. Fein’s voice boomed from the dark.
“My name is Castley.” The light feathered in my eyelashes as I looked out over the audience.
“This assignment is graded,” her voice droned. “You need to participate or I’m going to have to give you both a zero. Miss Cresswell, are you listening?”
“Her name is Castley,” George Gray said.
“Start again.”
I took a deep breath. George sniffled encouragingly at me. I shut my eyes, but in the darkness I tried to hide myself if, Baby J’s paintings rose up, bright and wild, roaring through the darkness like a howl in the night.
You will hide your true self. You will bury what you fear, in a locked chest in the cave of your heart, where you will keep the bones of the person you could have been.
And the planets spun. And the stars shot like warning signals across the fragile sky.
And why wouldn’t people see that? Mrs. Tulle said the paintings were beautiful, even if they (maybe) scared her. Why did Baby J have to hide away? Why did we all have to hide away? Why couldn’t we show our true selves, dressed in paint or hidden in pantomime?
About Eliza:
Eliza Wass is an author, journalist and the wife of the late musician Alan Wass. Her debut novel, The Cresswell Plot, was published in 2016 to critical acclaim by Disney-Hyperion. She has contributed articles to The Guardian, Grazia, NME, Shortlist and THE FALL.
Her second book with Disney-Hyperion, The Life and Death Parade, will be published in June 2018.
Giveaway Details:
3 winners will receive a finished copy of THE CRESSWELL PLOT Paperback, US Only.
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