Book Descriptions
for A Cloud of Outrageous Blue by Vesper Stamper
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
In 14 th -century England, 16-year-old Edie (white) has been sent to the priory of St. Christopher, as a conversa (laborer); she'll work for the order, not join it. At the priory she makes a fast friend in postulant Alice. The Sub-Prioress, Agnes de Guile, seems to appreciate Edie's intelligence; that liking cools when Mason, the young man Edie loves, gets a stonemason job at the priory and they're caught spending time together. Edie, who hasn't told anyone that she sees sounds as colors, and that colors themselves deeply affect her, is assigned to mixing ink in the scriptorium, where her first time working with lapis lazuli sends her into a trance during which she has a vision. Tension builds across multiple elements of this lush novel incorporating gorgeous full-plate illustrations. Plague hits the priory and neighboring town and Edie bears witness to suffering caused by the disease and fanatical responses to it as she cares for victims. She learns Agnes, who also had visions once but denied them, is twisted and cruel, recently locking Alice in a stone tower for a small transgression. Edie's love for Mason is paired with growing resentment when he pressures her to leave, which would mean abandoning Alice and the sick and dying. Rising above it all are questions about the meaning of her vision, which she believes is pointing her toward a plague cure, in this riveting work that deftly blends the historical and the mystical. (Age 12 and older)
CCBC Choices 2021. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2021. Used with permission.
From the Publisher
For fans of Fever 1793 comes the story of a young woman paving her own path and falling in love during the Great Plague of 1348, from the award-winning creator of What the Night Sings.
Edyth grew up in a quiet village with a loving family, before losing everything she holds dear in the blink of an eye. Suddenly sent to live in a priory and work with ancient texts, Edyth must come to terms with her new life and the gifts she discovers in herself. But outside the priory, something much worse is coming. With the reappearance of a boy from her past and the ominous Great Plague creeping closer and closer to the priory, it will be up to Edyth to rise above it all and save herself.
From the award-winning author-illustrator of What the Night Sings comes a new journey of self-discovery and love in the most uncertain times.
Edyth grew up in a quiet village with a loving family, before losing everything she holds dear in the blink of an eye. Suddenly sent to live in a priory and work with ancient texts, Edyth must come to terms with her new life and the gifts she discovers in herself. But outside the priory, something much worse is coming. With the reappearance of a boy from her past and the ominous Great Plague creeping closer and closer to the priory, it will be up to Edyth to rise above it all and save herself.
From the award-winning author-illustrator of What the Night Sings comes a new journey of self-discovery and love in the most uncertain times.
Publisher description retrieved from Google Books.