ALA Booklist (Tue May 01 00:00:00 CDT 2012)

Mystery, fantasy, romance, horror, and poetry come together in this classic outsider story with sometimes shocking twists and turns that reveal heartfelt connections. Ophelia (called O), 15, writes poetry, but she keeps it secret, even when she spends the summer helping out her eccentric poet aunt, Emily, who runs a struggling secondhand bookstore where the local poets gather. What is Emily keeping secret? When O sees a boy on the wall outside, why does he look eerily familiar? And who is the gorgeous young guy who browses the poetry shelves and uses them as a library? Emily is haunted by the memory of an evil magician whose stage trick turned out to be a real execution. Is the killer due to return? The plot lurches at times, with revelations that feel patched on. But the action is fast, and the simple prose is pitch-perfect as tension builds to reveal that O "dreamt the unimaginable and woke to find it real."

Horn Book (Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2012)

O

Kirkus Reviews

Fifteen-year-old Ophelia, known as O, encounters the unexpected when she spends a transformative summer with her aunt, a poet and the proprietor of a secondhand bookshop called the Green Man, "where extraordinary things [happen]." After receiving a summer grant to study in Italy, O's father sends her to stay with his older sister Emily, "one of the finest poets of her generation." Though "always a poet, always a little odd," Emily's recent heart attack has left her even more "off-center." Emily's eccentricity concerns O, who has recently starting writing poetry. Arriving at the Green Man, O finds Emily frail and distracted. Suffering from debilitating angina and disturbing childhood dreams of an evil magician, Emily has clearly neglected everything. As O tries to restore order to Emily's disintegrating life and business, she falls under the Green Man's spell and is drawn irrevocably into the dark mystery threatening her aunt. United by poetry, O and Emily bond, and, by summer's end, O "joins the ranks of those crazy people who call themselves poets." This atmospheric exploration of what it means to be a poet offers memorable corporal and incorporeal characters, a realistic intergenerational relationship and a deeply rooted mystery connecting past and present. Ideal for those with a penchant for magic, mystery and poetry. (Fantasy. 10-14)

School Library Journal (Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2012)

Gr 9 Up-"Poets must believe in the possibility of the impossible." So says one of the characters in this quiet mystery, and the two main characters do indeed believe. Fifteen-year-old Ophelia, whose father is off on a business trip, is spending the summer with her elderly Aunt Emily, who has had heart trouble. The arrangement allows them to keep an eye on one another while minding Emily's tattered used bookstore. Although wary at first, Emily and O come to find that they are very compatible. They are both poets, both open to mysteries and to the deeper emotions in life. Ghosts haunt the store; Emily accepts them. As O comes to know and believe in Emily's ghosts, readers do as well. It all makes perfect sense that Ezra Pound would be lounging on the couch, petting the cat, and Mallarm&3; would be sitting on the staircase with his notebook. There is a mysterious magician, prophetic dreams, and a handsome stranger who may be more, and less, than he seems. Bedard writes with grace and wit, but also with deceptive ease-there's a lot going on, but it is all very clear. Poetry and the history of certain poets are casually integrated into the tale in a seamless manner. It is a mystery and a ghost story and a book about beauty, art, creativity, and taking chances. Patience may be needed, but is well rewarded. Geri Diorio, Ridgefield Library, CT