Flickers

By Arthur Slade

A movie scream so piercing, so chilling and so powerful, it will open up another dimension and summon something beyond all imagining . . .

Far from the isolated prairie ranch where they were born, orphaned twins Isabelle and Beatrice Thorn are living a glamorous 1920s Hollywood life as wards of Mr. Cecil, a mysterious and influential director. Isabelle is a silent film starlet, destined for greatness in the very first talking picture—a horror flick that will showcase her famous scream, often seen but never before heard by audiences. Meanwhile, Beatrice spends her days hidden away on the Cecil estate with her books and her insect collection, scarves covering her birthmarks and baldness. But Beatrice’s curiosity about Mr. Cecil, the death of her parents, the appearance of scorpion hornets—creatures that should not exist on this earth—and the unsettling fates of two people who visited his estate is getting the better of her, and she’s starting to realize the director has truly dark designs for this movie.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Apr 26, 2016
• ISBN: 9781443416672

Arthur Slade

ARTHUR SLADE was raised on a ranch in the Cypress Hills of Saskatchewan. He is the author of seventeen novels for young readers including The Hunchback Assignments, which won the prestigious TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award, and its three sequels, and Dust, winner of the Governor General’s Award for Children’s Literature. He is also the author of the acclaimed graphic novel Modo: Ember’s End. He lives in the mythical city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Web: arthurslade.com Twitter: @arthurslade

Reviews for Flickers

[bucketofrhymes · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book brought me back.

When I was ten, I read Dust by Arthur Slade for the first time. And I dreamed about butterflies for months afterwards. There's something about the unsettling atmosphere, the historical details, the authority figure who's a little bit off, the creepy insects... I love it.

Flickers brought me right back to that, to the delicious chill I got as a kid. It's a fresh, gripping tale with all of the eerie trappings that make me love Arthur Slade's writing -- insects and all.

You know that feeling, of being on the cusp of something that is simultaneously a great innovation and a tremendous horror? Yeah, that's what this book captures. And it's amazing.

[suziqbird · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I can honestly say that Flickers is a very very good book. I read it in 1 sitting!