If you haven't read Charles Dickens yet, what could be a better introduction than Livi Michael's "The Whispering Road"? Michael's first novel for older children imbibes Dickens' influences, dramatic storytelling and colorful characterization without imitating him blindly.
Like Dickens, Michael sets her book in Victorian times, when England was a hard place to be if you were down and out, harder still if you were down and out and young. The story starts with a bang, landing us in a chicken shed from which Joe and Annie Sowerby, locked up by their cruel employers, stage a spectacular escape. As they flee into the cold night, Michael recounts to her readers a series of adventures, related through Joe's eyes.
Joe is the articulate, feisty older brother entrusted to look after his sister when his widowed mother leaves them at the workhouse, promising to come back for them. Annie is the reticent little girl with a special gift -- or curse -- of being able to see ghosts. Together, they fleetingly encounter a motley crew of characters no less memorable than Dickens' own.
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