The Revenant by Sonia Gensler - ARC Review

Title: The Revenant
Author: Sonia Gensler
Hardcover, 336 pages

Expected publication: June 14th 2011 by Knopf Books for Young Readers
Source: ARC

Plot:

When Willie arrives in Indian Territory, she knows only one thing: no one can find out who she really is. To escape a home she doesn't belong in anymore, she assumes the name of a former classmate and accepts a teaching job at the Cherokee Female Seminary.

Nothing prepares her for what she finds there. Her pupils are the daughters of the Cherokee elite—educated and more wealthy than she, and the school is cloaked in mystery. A student drowned in the river last year, and the girls whisper that she was killed by a jealous lover. Willie's room is the very room the dead girl slept in. The students say her spirit haunts it.

Willie doesn't believe in ghosts, but when strange things start happening at the school, she isn't sure anymore. She's also not sure what to make of a boy from the nearby boys' school who has taken an interest in her—his past is cloaked in secrets. Soon, even she has to admit that the revenant may be trying to tell her something. . . (from goodreads)

My Thoughts:

This was a breath of fresh air as far as settings go. A lot of this novel is based on factual events (not the ghost story part, although there are still rummors about it to this day at the school) which makes the setting very real for me. Ms. Gensler has done a wonderful job using slang and terminology used back in the late 1800's which also stays true to the story.

Read this one if you like historical romances and YA fiction!