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We Hear the Dead

Name: We Hear the Dead
Author: Dianne Salerni
ISBN: 9781402230929

by Dianne Salerni

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Overview

"Readers will be swept along with Maggie and Kate as they bamboozle an entire nation, and will feel for Maggie as she debates whether or not to leave the profession...Dianne K. Salerni has written a brilliant debut novel."
-TeensReadToo.com

Maggie:
I began the deception when I was too young to know right from wrong. Only with the passing of time did I come to understand the consequences of my actions.

Kate:
I do not believe that I have ever intentionally deceived anyone. Maggie has a different understanding of the events that have happened. To her the spirits were always a game. For me they were my life's calling. I have no regrets.

It starts as a harmless prank...then one lie quickly grows into another. Soon Kate and Maggie Fox are swept into a dizzying flurry of national attention for their abilities to communicate with the dead. But living a lie is sometimes too much to handle, even if you have the best intentions. Based on a true story, We Hear the Dead reveals how secrets and lies can sometimes lead you to what's real and what's right. And how sometimes talking with the dead is easier than talking with the people around you.

What Readers Are Saying:

"Masterfully written...a first-class novel."

"A crafty, enchanting, mesmerizing read."

"Adventure, romance, heartbreak, a bit of history, and a story that will touch you."

"Dianne Salerni is masterful."

"An enjoyable ride...and one well worth taking."

"A great read that had me turning pages long after I should have gone to bed."

Synopsis

Maggie Fox didn't mean to create a new religion...

Publishers Weekly

In 1848, the Fox sisters--Maggie, 14, and Kate, 11--decide to play a prank: an accident of physiology allows both girls to make loud cracking noises with the joints in their legs and feet, and thereby convince the family that a spirit is haunting their house. For Maggie, it's the beginning of a lifelong deception; for Kate, it's an unlocking of her true spiritual gifts. Under the direction of their older sister, Leah, the girls move from amazing their rural neighbors to holding séances in upscale Rochester, where the scrutiny and stratagems become much more intense. The girls' longing for attention and Leah's greed motivate the charade, rapidly deforming their lives. First-time novelist Salerni tells the story primarily in Maggie's voice (with some chapters narrated by Kate) and sticks closely to facts upon which the story is based, to a degree that some readers may find exhaustive and which results in loosely connected events and dangling threads. But those fascinated by Spiritualism should welcome how the sisters' opposing perspectives result in a representation of reality that does not completely discount the possibility of supernatural agency. Ages 12 up. (May)

About the Author, Dianne Salerni

DIANNE K. SALERNI is an elementary school teacher, author, and online book reviewer. She has previously published educational materials for teachers, as well as short stories. We Hear the Dead is her first full-length novel. With her husband and her two daughters, Salerni lives in Pennsylvania, where she is at work on her novel.

Reviews

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

VOYA - Sarah Flowers

Salerni's first novel is based on the life of nineteenth-century spiritualist Maggie Fox. The first half of the novel tells the story of teenaged Maggie and her younger sister, Kate, who convince others that the rapping noises heard in their presence are messages from the dead. It starts out as a prank but, ultimately, in the hands of their older sister, Leah, becomes a career. The second half of the book details the love affair between Maggie and Arctic explorer Elisha Kent Kane. Kane disapproves of the spiritualism business and tries to convince Maggie to give it up. Maggie is torn between her love for Kane and her need to earn a living (not to mention her enjoyment of all the trappings of her chosen career). Matters are further complicated by Kane's unwillingness or inability to defy his wealthy Philadelphia family by openly courting the uneducated and notorious Maggie. Meanwhile, Kate is apparently becoming more and more convinced that the messages from the dead are real. Salerni occasionally tantalizes the reader with chapters from Kate's perspective, but this is basically Maggie's story, and Maggie is a bright, interesting, and down-to-earth character who believes that she is offering a service by giving comfort to grieving families. Teens may be disappointed that the book, despite the title, isn't spookier, but those who like historical fiction will find this an entertaining romance. Reviewer: Sarah Flowers

School Library Journal

Gr 6–9—Maggie and Kate Fox were real celebrities in the mid-1800s, sisters said to have an ability to communicate with the dead. Salerni brings the séance culture vividly to life without ever pretending that the mediums believed in their own "ghost rapping." Maggie, the older sister, reveals in the opening pages that her spiritualism is deception and humbug and prank. An occasional chapter is written by Kate, who believes that she can truly communicate with the dead, even if the actual rapping comes from trickery. Egged on by an older sister, the girls find they enjoy the perks of their fame, and Maggie in particular is pleased to reassure grieving patrons that their loved ones are at peace. Despite the seeming focus on the supernatural, the novel offers much historical context and several richly developed subplots, most notably the romance between Maggie Fox and Elisha Kane. Kane was a renowned explorer, and his funeral was second in size only to that of Abraham Lincoln's. The author's word choices ("spectacles," "peevishly," "devilment," "bedchamber") draw readers into the past. She paints vivid scenes of life in upstate New York during a time when exposed ankles were shocking and the Underground Railroad offered a dangerous route to freedom for both conductors and slaves. Historical fiction at its best.—Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TX

Kirkus Reviews

This unusual historical romance deals with a compelling subject: the true story of the infamous Fox sisters, who inadvertently began the spiritualist movement in 1848. Despite her book's length, Salerni easily holds reader interest as she describes, usually from Maggie's point of view, the inner workings of the Fox sisters' deception. As Maggie confessed in 1888, they produced loud rapping "spirit" sounds primarily through cracking their ankle and toe joints. The author focuses her story first on Maggie's conflicted feelings about her fraud, then on her romance with the famous Arctic explorer Elisha Kane, while depicting societal norms of the time through the difficulties of their unequal relationship. Ironically, history remembers Maggie Fox, while Kane, highly celebrated in his day, has been forgotten. The research is excellent, and the author displays a facility for fluid prose even as she writes in a modified archaic style that lends credence to the first-person conceit of the novel. Although the book's length may discourage some readers, those caught in the story will enjoy it. A promising debut. (Historical fiction. YA)