The Peculiar Hardcover - 2012

From the rear cover

Don't get yourself noticed and you won't get yourself hanged.

In the faery slums of Bath, Bartholomew Kettle and his sister Hettie live by these words. Bartholomew and Hettie are changelings--Peculiars--and neither faeries nor humans want anything to do with them.

One day a mysterious lady in a plum-colored dress comes gliding down Old Crow Alley. Bartholomew watches her through his window. Who is she? What does she want? And when Bartholomew witnesses the lady whisking away, in a whirling ring of feathers, the boy who lives across the alley--Bartholomew forgets the rules and gets himself noticed.

First he's noticed by the lady in plum herself, then by something darkly magical and mysterious, by Jack Box and the Raggedy Man, by the powerful Mr. Lickerish . . . and by Arthur Jelliby, a young man trying to slip through the world unnoticed, too, and who, against all odds, offers Bartholomew friendship and a way to belong.

Part murder mystery, part gothic fantasy, part steampunk adventure, The Peculiar is Stefan Bachmann's riveting, inventive, and unforgettable debut novel.

Media reviews

Citations

• Booklist, 09/15/2012, Page 72
• Horn Book Magazine, 11/01/2012, Page 79
• Hornbook Guide to Children, 01/01/2013, Page 62
• Kirkus Bea Big Book Guide, 05/15/2012, Page 48
• Kirkus Reviews, 08/01/2012, Page 0
• New York Times Book Review, 09/16/2012, Page 17
• Publishers Weekly, 07/09/2012, Page 64
• Publishers Weekly Best Books, 11/05/2012, Page 38
• School Library Journal, 10/01/2012, Page 123
• Shelf Awareness, 09/25/2012, Page 0