An Acquaintance with Darkness [Paperback]

Ann Rinaldi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1999 | Series: Great Episodes

Chaos reigns in Washington, D.C., after President Lincoln’s assassination. But for fourteen-year-old Emily Pigbush, the Union’s turmoil is nothing compared to her own struggle. Sent to live with her uncle Valentine after her mother’s untimely death, Emily realizes that her best friend’s mother was one of John Wilkes Booth’s accomplices. And even worse, she suspects that her uncle is breaking the law.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-9. Emily Pigbush, 14, is orphaned the day the Civil War ends. Against her dead mother's wishes, she moves in with her Uncle Valentine, a prominent Washington, DC, doctor. Emily soon learns that her guardian?for all his goodness and talent?is a grave robber, illegally acquiring bodies for dissection. Appalled at this discovery and at the deceptions her uncle's household subjects her to, she runs away. A change of heart brings her home as an active participant in furthering the cause of medicine. Emily's story plays out against Lincoln's assassination and its impact on her best friend, Annie Surratt, whose mother ran the boardinghouse where the conspirators met. The two stories are so unbalanced that each distracts from the other. In the end, Annie's predicament is far more involving and compelling than Emily's, and Annie comes across as the more interesting and realistic of the girls. Emily is selfish, silly, and unbelievably naive in comparison; in addition, her concerns are too neatly and quickly resolved. Also, next to Lincoln's death and the trial of his assassins, Uncle Valentine's body-snatching activities seem overwrought and exaggerated. The story lacks the immediacy and power of Cynthia DeFelice's The Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker (Farrar, 1996). Rinaldi's characters tend toward stereotypes, and she has serious problems with chronology. An Acquaintance with Darkness is mildly entertaining, but fails to connect with its audience in a meaningful way.?Ann W. Moore, Schenectady County Public Library, NY
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Rinaldi has woven two interesting plots here into a fine coming-of-age historical novel....Makes readers feel as if they are living in history.—Booklist

Fast-paced and dramatic, with a wealth of interesting background information....Impressive.—Publishers Weekly

Deliciously macabre.—The Bulletin

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Graphia (April 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152021973
• ISBN-13: 978-0152021979
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,011,344 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

ANN RINALDI is an award-winning author best known for bringing history vividly to life. A self-made writer and newspaper columnist for twenty-one years, Ms. Rinaldi attributes her interest in history to her son, who enlisted her to take part in historical reenactments up and down the East Coast. She lives with her husband in central New Jersey.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rinaldi has done it again!, September 1, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: An Acquaintance with Darkness (Hardcover)

Award winning author Ann Rinaldi has once again brought history to life in this engaging, captivating historical novel. It's 1865, the place is Washington, D.C. Emily Bransby Pigbush, a fourteen year old orphan, has come to live with her wealthy uncle. When President Lincoln is assasinated, her best friend's family is suspected of harboring the assasin. Her uncle forbids her to see her friend, drivng a rift between the two. And then Emily discovers that her uncle, a highly respected physician, is a body snatcher, robbing graves for bodies to study for medical purposes. Emily just can't accept what her uncle is doing. But as Emily begins to learns more about her uncle, she begins to realize that what her uncle is doing may be for the good of people. Her uncle's sole purpose is to learn more about the body so he can help develop cures, and he's only resorted to body snatching because he can't get corpses legally. Although the subject matter of this book may seem a bit gruesome at first, it's really an excellant, well written historical novel. Read it, or you're missing out on a great book!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything Expected from Ann Rinaldi!, February 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: An Acquaintance with Darkness (Paperback)

An Acquaintance with Darkness is a very well written novel. It's a novel of historical fiction and takes place right around Lincoln's assassination. The main character, Emily, tells the story. Emily's life is a mess, like most people during that time. Her dad just died in the Civil War. Her mother is dying, of 'failing' as they say. Her mother's death wish is for Emily's uncle, Uncle Valentine, to stay away from her once she dies. Emily's mother knows something about Uncle Valentine that she feels is not right, but Emily does not know what. After her mother passes away, Uncle Valentine, unknown to Emily, goes to court and gains full custody over her. Lincoln is assassinated and Washington is going insane. Anyone associated with Booth, Lincoln's killer, was arrested. Unfortunately Emily's best friend, Annie's, mother was of close association with Booth. Mrs. Mary, Annie's mother is arrested, in prison, and condemned to be hung. this only gives Emily more confusion, not to mention the fact that her secret crush, Annie's brother Johnny, has run away and has not been heard from, plus Emily is living with her uncle. At first this seemed a fine arrangement until Emily learns that there is more to her uncle's profession as a doctor. With the city in an uproar, Emily doesn't know what to do, where to go, who to talk to, or even who she can trust. Emily is left alone and confused. This is such a great, involved novel. Some of it is fictional, but much of the basis for the story is factual. The book is so good that you would have never known that it wasn't entirely true if you didn't read the Author's note.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Through the Eyes of a Civil War Orphan.., January 30, 2006

By 

Green Marker Girl "Bernadette" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Acquaintance with Darkness (Great Episodes) (Mass Market Paperback)

Emily Pigbush is an orphan. In the first few chapters of the book, she loses her mother, and her father is long gone from the war.She is left to live with her best friend Annie, the daughter of Mary Surratt.That night, there is a great outcry in the city of Washington, where Emily lives. Mr. Lincoln, the president, has been shot dead. Emily is even more stunned when she hears who had done it-- the man who had been staying with the Surratt's, John Wilkes Booth. The Surratts are thrust into investigation for connection to the murder. Emily is sent to stay with her rich uncle instead, Valentine. She gets along well there, until she uncovers a sinister secret from a woman staying in the house -- her uncle could be a bodysnatcher. She pursues the idea, quietly, until she is confronted at school by a reporter's daughter. Her fears are confirmed when she sees the proof with her own eyes. She loses herself in her own emotions; love for Robert, a man Valentine saved, hate for all of them.
A very good illustration of the Civil War and the unjustly accused.