Acquaintance With Darkness (Great Episodes) [Turtleback]

Ann Rinaldi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2005 | Series: Great Episodes

When her mother dies, fourteen-year-old Emily Pigbush is forced to go live with her uncle Valentine. She is immediately suspicious of her uncle’s unusual late-night activities and fears he may be involved with body-snatching, but every time she resolves to confront him, she is thrown off balance by something good he has done. When she stumbles upon the truth, the betrayal is more than she can bear. But when forced to put her emotions aside, Emily discovers that although her uncle is breaking the law, the risk he takes ultimately benefits mankind.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Turtleback: 374 pages
• Publisher: Demco Media (February 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0606334173
• ISBN-13: 978-0606334174
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)

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.