A Coming Evil [Hardcover]

Vivian Vande Velde (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

Lisette Beaucaire was angry when her parents sent her away from Paris that September day in 1940. And although she knew that with the Nazis occupying the city she'd be safer at her Aunt Josephine's farm in the Dordogne valley, Lisette resented her "exile." She'd miss her friends and the excitement of being thirteen and starting a new school. Instead she'd have nothing to do but amuse her little cousin Cecile. That's what Lisette thought, but she soon found out that she wasn't the only visitor at the farmhouse. And then she encountered Gerard, a visitor from a long time ago, who proved to be a valiant ally at a crucial moment for the people who lived in the farmhouse.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-This well-written novel combines two periods in French history-the 1940s and the early 1300s. Lisette Beaucaire, 13, is sent to live in the country with her aunt, since food is scarce in Paris, which is overrun by German soldiers. Although she dreads spending time with her bratty cousin Cecile, Lisette is even more dismayed to discover that her aunt is hiding Jewish and gypsy children from the Nazis. As Lisette and the children practice what to do if the Nazis arrive unexpectedly, she begins to understand the seriousness of the situation. Then she encounters the ghost of Gerard, a young knight who died in 1314. At first he is merely a spirit but gradually he becomes solid and real-and a friend. In an exciting climax, Gerard helps Lisette save the younger children from the Nazis. The conclusion leads readers to ponder the future of the characters. The plot moves briskly and Vande Velde does a good job of creating the war-time atmosphere of fear and suspicion. Lisette is a sympathetic and believable character. However, the comparison between the persecution of the Jews and gypsies by Hitler and the Knights Templar (Gerard's order) by King Philip IV is a bit of a stretch and may not be the best example to help readers understand the Holocaust. (Among other things, the Knights Templar, a powerful group of monks known for fighting in the Crusades, was not particularly tolerant of Jews or other "infidels.") Still, this fast-paced adventure raises some interesting issues.
Cyrisse Jaffee, formerly at Newton Public Schools, MA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 5^-9. The author of numerous fantasies (most recently The Changeling Prince [1998]) and fairy tale adaptations (Tales from the Brothers Grimm and Sisters Weird [1995]) tries a more realistic setting in her latest offering. Parisian 13-year-old Lizette is sent to live with her aunt in German-occupied rural France in the fall of 1940. There she meets Gerard, the ghost of a fourteenth-century Templar knight, who was murdered by King Phillip IV in 1314. As she learns more about Gerard and the evils of his time, she comes to understand the true dangers of the Nazi occupation, and the importance of helping her aunt hide several Jewish and Gypsy children. Velde's melding of fantasy with historical fiction is generally successful, and her comments about the similarities between these two historical periods are well taken. Less convincing are the characters' motivations: Why does Aunt Josephine risk everything to take in five orphaned children? Why does Gerard, whose apparitional form has appeared to villagers for generations, suddenly become a live human being again after meeting Lizette? Despite these flaws, the narrative flows well and should appeal to readers, especially fans of Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic (1988). Kay Weisman

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children; None edition (October 26, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395900123
• ISBN-13: 978-0395900123
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,777,593 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting and Suspenseful, June 17, 2001

A Kid's Review

This review is from: A Coming Evil (Hardcover)

Lisette hopes the year she turns thirteen will be the best year of her life. Unfortunately for her, the year she turns thirteen is 1940, when the Nazis are in France. On September first, her birthday, her parents send her away to live with her Aunt Josephine in the country because they think she will be safer there than in Paris. Lisette is not happy about going there, partly because she thinks here parents don't want her, and partly because she hates her cousin, Cecile. When she arrives at Aunt Josephine's house, she finds out her aunt is hiding Jews and Gypsies and there is a ghost in the woods. I liked this book because the story is told with a lot of detail. When you read this book, you almost feel like you are there with the characers in the story.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gripping tale from a great writer, September 4, 2005

By 

M. A. Bechaz "bookaholic" (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Coming Evil (Hardcover)

This is my favourite of all the Vivian Vande Velde books I've read so far...and that's saying something! I loved it. Once I started it, I couldn't put it down. I really felt for Lisette and the awful situation she found herself in, being sent away during wartime without her parents, banished to the south of France to live with not only her aunt, but also her bratty control-freak of a cousin and a motley collection of strange children that her aunt had given refuge to. It seemed to her as if her life could not get any worse...and yet it did, and she was forced to take action...

Lisette is a wonderful, brave, intelligent heroine who I found utterly believable and likeable. The other characters in the book are similarly realistic, multi-dimensional and compelling, and in the end, even the bratty cousin was redeemed by her bravery and compassion for others. These are ordinary people being forced to deal with extraordinary situations, and the author never loses sight of their human strengths and weaknesses. Such was the utter realism of this story that I had no trouble accepting the paranormal side of this tale--a ghost coming to life through his interaction and friendship with Lisette.

I liked the way the author made comparisons between the way the Knights Templar were treated in medieval times, and the way the people of France were treated by the Nazis. It's a stirring reminder that even though centuries may pass, unfortunately people don't necessarily learn from the mistakes and injustices of history...the fight for freedom, for religious and racial tolerance, and for human rights is an ongoing one, even in today's society. Fortunately, though, this book doesn't suffer from any preachiness in teaching us this lesson, but remains a wonderful, quick-paced, exciting read that even people who couldn't care less about history will enjoy.

I'd recommend this book to adults as well as kids, not only because of the maturity of its writing, but also because it's just so good!

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Exciting, but faulty, December 31, 1999

By 

Jennifer Mo - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Coming Evil (Hardcover)

Vivian Vande Velde turned away from her usual fantasy to produce a sort of ghost story set in WW2. A Coming Evil, while a very readable book, had a number of plot flaws that prevented it from being an excellent one.

The plotting around Gerard is especially weak. His unexpected return to life with the appearance of Lisette was given no logical reason and his 'archaic' speech seemed particularly inaccurate. While reading the book, it was almost as though Vivian Vande Velde was just making illogical things happen to service the plot. Apart from the lack of reasonable grounding, the ending (while certainly suspenseful) seemed rushed and abruptly cut off.

On the other hand, VVV is excellent at creating the right atmosphere, and the WW2 setting works unexpectedly well with the contrast to Gerard's life. Not bad, but on the whole, if you like historical ghost stories, you're much better off trying Elizabeth Marie Pope's The Sherwood Ring.