Description

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Timeless, beautiful, and haunting, spirals connect four episodes, from prehistory through the far future, in this Michael L. Printz Honor Book.

In prehistory, a girl picks up a charred stick and makes the first written signs.

Tens of centuries later, the treacherous waters of Golden Beck take Anna, who people call a witch.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, in the halls of a Long Island hospital at the beginning of the twentieth century, a mad poet watches the ocean and knows the horrors it hides

And there in the far future, as an astronaut faces his destiny on the first spaceship sent from earth to colonize another world.

Each of the characters in these mysterious linked stories embarks on a journey of discovery and survival; carried forward through the spiral of time, none will return to the same place.

The Ghosts of Heaven is a mesmerizing novel from Printz Award winner Marcus Sedgwick, author of Midwinterblood, Revolver, and She Is Not Invisible.

A Michael L. Printz Honor Book

“Intriguing . . . [the] sense of mystery propels the novel forward.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Wondrously metaphysical, Sedgwick's novel will draw teens in and invite them to share in the awe-inspiring (and sometimes terrifying) order and mystery that surround us all.” —School Library Journal, starred review

“This complex masterpiece is for sophisticated readers of any age. Haunting.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Satisfyingly brain-teasing.” —The Horn Book

“Readers who like untangling puzzles will enjoy parsing the threads knitting together this corkscrew of tales.” —Publisher’s Weekly

This title has Common Core connections.

Novels by Marcus Sedgwick:
Saint Death: A propulsive, compelling, and unsparing novel set in the grimly violent world of the human and drug trade on the US-Mexican border.
Blood Red Snow White: A gripping, romantic adventure novel based on the true story of Arthur Ransome's experiences with love and betrayal in war-torn Russia.
The Ghosts of Heaven: A Printz Honor Book! Timeless, beautiful, and haunting, spirals connect four episodes, from prehistory through the far future.
She Is Not Invisible: When her father goes missing, a blind girl talented in identifying patterns and her brother are thrust into a mystery.
Midwinterblood: A Printz Medal Winner! Seven stories of passion and love separated by centuries but mysteriously intertwined.
White Crow: A scary, thought provoking novel about secrets that are better left buried.
Revolver: A Printz Honor Book! A taut frontier survivor story, set at the time of the Alaska gold rush.

Graphic novel by Marcus Sedgwick, art by Thomas Taylor:
Scarlett Hart: Monster Hunter: A rip-roaring romp full of hairy horrors, villainous villains, and introducing the world’s toughest monster hunter—Scarlett Hart!

About the Author

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Marcus Sedgwick is the bestselling author of over thirty books. He has been shortlisted seven times for the Carnegie and other major prizes such as the Costa, Guardian and Blue Peter Book Award. In 2014 he received the eminent Printz Award, for his novel Midwinterblood. Marcus has also received two Printz Honors, for Revolver in 2011 and The Ghosts of Heaven in 2016, giving him the most citations to date for America's most notable book prize for writing for young adults. The Monsters We Deserve was published by Zephyr in 2018. marcussedgwick.com @marcussedgwick

Praise For…

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“Four short stories, thematically related by images of the spiral form that snakes its way through each to obsess a protagonist, flash across time in this thought-provoking collection.” —Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

“. . . satisfyingly brain-teasing.” —The Horn Book

“* Sedgwick is one of the most sophisticated, thought-provoking voices in YA novels, and like his Printz winning Midwinterblood, this presents a story told in pieces over a span of centuries.” —Booklist, STARRED REVIEW

“* Like his Printz Award-winning Midwinterblood, the prolific Sedgwick's latest work consists of individual tales spanning centuries of time connected only by a single thread - in this case a shape; the spiral . . . At once prosaic and wondrously metaphysical, Sedgwick's novel will draw teens in and invite them to share in the awe-inspiring (and sometimes terrifying) order and mystery that surround us all.” —School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW

“* Similar to Sedgwick's Printz Award-winning Midwinterblood, four stories relate in elusive ways . . . this complex masterpiece is for sophisticated readers of any age. Haunting.” —Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW

“Readers who like untangling puzzles will enjoy parsing the threads knitting together this corkscrew of tales.” —Publishers Weekly

“A tale for the ages, expertly spun and completely satisfying.” —Eoin Colfer, New York Times Book Review on Midwinterblood

“Its strange spell will capture you.” —Booklist, starred review on Midwinterblood

“The Time traveler's Wife meets Lost in this chilling exploration of love and memory.” —Kirkus, starred review on Midwinterblood

“A story that's simultaneously romantic, tragic, horrifying, and transcendental.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review on Midwinterblood