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Description edit
For more than a century, the small town of Haddan, Massachusetts, has been divided, as if by a line drawn down the center of Main Street, separating those born and bred in the village from those who attend the prestigious Haddan School. But one October night the two worlds are thrust together... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Summary edit
This book focuses on a girl named Carlin. She travels from far away to attend a boarding school She had always dreamt of escaping the town she was from and her family. She was poor and this created tension and made it hard for her to adapt. She befriends a boy named Gus who is equally unusual.... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
Characters/People edit
- Carlin Leander: the main protagonist. She befriends Gus and the story focuses on her and his involvement in her life. She is from florida and a swimmer. She is quiet and unlike many of the other girls of the boarding school she is to attend.
- August Pierce (Gus): other protagonist and friend of Carlin. His presence is short-lived but impacting. He is the son of a poor magician and scholar. He is equally unusual but quick witted which results in much ridicule and his ultimate demise. He is in love with Carlin.
- Betsy Chase: eccentric photographer and teacher at the Haddan school. She develops a relationship with Abe, a local police officer, despite her being engaged to another man.
- Harry McKenna: he is an antagonist within the story.
- Abel Grey: Add a description of this character.
- Joey
- Helen Davis
- Eric Herman
- Wright
- Dorothy Jackson
- Sean Byers
- Pete Byers
- Annie Howe
- Amy Elliot
- Frank
- Mary Beth
- Gus Pierce
- Bob Thomas
- Margaret
- Hamilton
- Nathaniel Gibb
- Mrs. Jeremy
- Teddy Humphrey
- Ernest
- Glen
- Lois Jeremy
- Dr. Jones
- Maureen Brown
- Eileen
- Sam Arthur
- Duck Johnson
- Doreen
- Dave Linden
- Johnny
Quotes edit
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“Who knows why sorrow strikes on one day rather than another. Who can tell why circumstances rend a man's heart.”
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“If anything, the beauty in the world confounded him and made him more despondent.”
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“The sky will always be blue; the wind will always rise up across the meadow and thread it's way through the grass.”
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“What was desire anyway, when examined in the clear light of day? Was it the way a woman searched for her clothes in the morning, or the way in which a man might watch her sit before a mirror and comb her hair? Was it a pale November dawn, when ice formed on the window panes and crows called from the bare black trees? Or was it the way a person might yield to the night, setting forth on a path so unexpected that daylight never again would be completely clear?”
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“It was the truth that was always as clear as water until it had been broken; shatter it and all that's left is a lie.”
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“Did you mean to do it? That's all he wanted to ask. Did you cry out loud, you voice echoing upward through the treetops and the clouds? Was it the blue sky you saw at the end or a black curtain falling down fast? Did your eyes stay open because you weren't yet done with your life and you knew how much there was left to see, years of it, decades of it, a thousand nights and days you would no longer have?”
Abe
- Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
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Identity was a mutable thing, a cloak taken on and off, depending on circumstance or phases of the moon.
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Cruelty always gets found out in the end; there’s simply no way to run from all that you do.
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Who could begin to describe the color of moonlight once it had been replaced by the clear light of day? Who could say it had even existed, if it had ever been anything more than a dream?
Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers -
He’d recognized the same thing then, how quickly the future could become the past, moments melting into each other before anyone could reach out and change them.
Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers
First Sentence edit
THE HADDAN SCHOOL WAS BUILT in 1858 on the sloping banks of the Haddan River, a muddy and precarious location that had proven disastrous from the start.
Authors & Contributors edit
- Alice Hoffman (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Country: Add the country of publication.
Publication Date: 2001
ISBN: Add the ISBN.
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Country: Add the country of publication.
Publication Date: 2001
ISBN: Add the ISBN.
Page Count: 352
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: PS3558.O3447 R58
- Dewey: 813.54
Subjects edit
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