Picture the Dead by Adele Griffin; Illustrations by Lisa Brown

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire (May 2010)
Page Count: 272
Reading Level: YA

Summary: Jennie Lovell's life is the very picture of love and loss. First she is orphaned and forced to live at the mercy of her stingy, indifferent relatives. Then her fiance falls on the battlefield, leaving her heartbroken and alone. Jennie struggles to pick up the pieces of her shattered life, but is haunted by a mysterious figure that refuses to let her bury the past.

When Jennie forms an unlikely alliance with a spirit photographer, she begins to uncover secrets about the man she thought she loved. With her sanity on edge and her life in the balance, can Jennie expose the chilling truth before someone-or something-stops her?

Against the brutal, vivid backdrop of the American Civil War, Adele Griffin and Lisa Brown have created a spellbinding mystery where the living cannot always be trusted and death is not always the end.

My Review: "A ghost will find its way home." That's the opening line of this novel and it immediately grabbed me. I love ghost stories and really enjoyed this one. Jennie is a sympathetic character, a girl on the step of womanhood and she has suffered much in her young life. Her parents are deceased and her twin, Toby, died. Then he fiance, Will, is killed in the war. All she has left is an unloving aunt and uncle, a distant and aloof cousin, Quinn, and her maid, Mavis.

Despite all her losses, Jennie is not a depressing girl. She feels the ghost of Toby by her at times. After an incident at a photographer's house, she sees her beloved Will for a moment. Is he trying to tell her something?

Picture the Dead is not an action-packed novel. it reads more like a historical novel filled with mystery, longing, loss and the awakening of a young girl's mind and body to the world surrounding her. Jennie has led a sheltered life and is trusting, but she loved Will and as the story progresses the reader sees this affection was returned by him as well. I also liked how Jennie wasn't flawless, especially with her tendency to steal things to add to her scrapbook. Griffn did a wonderful job of recreating the Civil War days and crafted a believable mystery with Gothic tendencies. 

Brown's illustrations throughout really helped me picture this time period and gave the story authenticity. Recommended.

Favorite passage: "The figure is slouched opposite me in Geist's armchair. I stare. He appears like a photograph slowly developing under my eyes. His shoulders are back, and his chin is tipped; his arms are crossed loose at the chest. A familiar position. He is here.

When I speak his name, his answering gaze on me is suffused in love and sadness. As Will's image takes full hold, his lips part. As if to say something in return. His eyes are tender and know me entirely. Then his hand lifts, reaches out, and sweeps as if to indicate something . . ." (Pages 225-226 in the ARC.)

Cover comment: The ARC edition is different than the hardcover version with the two burning candles. The ARC was more graphic with blood splattered across a picture frame. On their own they're both okay. I thought the picture frames were effective, but the candles were symbolic so maybe a combination of the two would have been nice.

Rating: +++1/2

For fans of: Historical, mysteries, ghost stories.

Book source: Around the World Tours

Reviewed by: Laurie