“Not just a coming-of-age book but an edge-of-your-seat thriller.”
—The Washington Post
What's it About?
Frances Leventhal refuses to look in the mirror; she can't bear to face her reflection. She has hidden from herself and everyone around her for such a long time, and now that her brother Daniel has committed suicide, she can't help thinking that it's somehow her fault. If she hadn't been so caught up in her own pain, maybe she would have noticed her brother's. It's time to stop hiding—to reach out to Daniel's friends at their private school. Daniel had been deeply involved in Unity Service, the charitable group on campus, and Frances is determined to join the group and to make amends.
But something's not quite right about Unity, and soon Frances finds herself in the middle of a puzzle too ominous to ignore. Exactly what are the Unity members trying so hard to hide? And why does no one else on campus, adult or teen, seem suspicious of them? This time Frances won't scurry away to hide. The memory of her brother is at stake.
About Writing this Book
This was a hard book to write. They're all difficult—I'm a writer who prefers having written to the actual task of writing—but Black Mirror was especially tough.
Frances is in such despair. I had to write my way into that place and, in fact, the words that begin the book—Have you ever been in a state of pain so intense it was like a living creature wound tightly around your ribcage and shoulders and neck?— originally appeared halfway through the first draft. It was only during revision that I understood that Frances does not work her way into a so-called “dark night of the soul.” She lives there. She begins there.
So the book had to begin there as well. And from the start we know that there is no possible way to make things right in the end for Frances. Her brother is dead, and that cannot be undone. And she's not good at being an adolescent or a high school student. Her best bet seems to be simply to endure.
But of course, Black Mirror is a suspense thriller, not a novel of adolescent angst, and that helped considerably, because Frances cannot afford to be completely passive, as she'd prefer. She has a criminal conspiracy to deal with ... and a new, vulnerable friend to protect. Life turns deadly around her, and what she does matters. So, as the novel picks up speed, her internal despair and the weird stuff happening at The Pettengill School shift from parallel tracks onto a collision course. In increasing tension, they balance each other. Or at least, I hope they do.
And that is why I like writing YA novels that are also suspense thrillers. It seems to me that putting a teen beset by serious emotional pain into external danger as well forces them to show me—or rather, to discover for themselves—who they really are. In the end, that is what Frances must face: her own self. She must look truthfully into a mirror. She is unwilling to do it; she is afraid of the darkness there. I believe that, if we are honest, so are we all.
Read an Excerpt
From Black Mirror,
copyright © 2001 by Nancy Werlin.
Daniel was my best and only friend. He had meant so much to me. And yet after
we began at The Pettengill School, two years ago, I hadn't been able to stop
our closeness from slipping away, until it was irretrievably gone.
I used to blame Pettengill for that. I used to blame Saskia. Saskia, and Daniel's friends in the Unity Service charitable group at school. I'd blamed Patrick Leyden, the entrepreneur who'd founded Unity. And, of course, I'd blamed Daniel himself.
I used to blame anyone but myself.
But now that Daniel is gone, I know better. My brother is dead of a massive, self-injected dose of heroin, and the only note he left behind was for Saskia. My brother was in pain, and I noticed nothing. Nothing.
Reviews & Awards
- An ALA Best Book for Young Adults
- A Booklist Top 10 Mysteries for Youth
- Texas Tayshas High School Reading List, 2002-2003
- A New York Public Library Best Book for the Teen Age
- Michigan Library Association Thumbs Up! Award for YA Fiction nominee, 2002
- Missouri Gateway Readers' Choice Award list, 2003-2004
- Virginia Young Readers Program master list, High School Level, 2003-04
- Tennessee Volunteer State reading list, YA division, 2004-2005
- An ALA Popular Paperback choice, 2005
- “The story's twists will keep the reader guessing from beginning to end. A skillfully wrought plot with fully developed characters and rich themes.”—Kirkus, starred review, July 1, 2001
- “Thrilling.”—Booklist, starred review, Sept. 15, 2001
- “A well-written and masterfully developed novel. A can't-put-it-down
mystery thriller.”
—School Library Journal, starred review, Sept. 2001 - “An enjoyable tale of false fronts, dangerous secrets, and a girl's struggle to find the truth in a world gone awry.”—The Bulletin, recommended, Oct. 2001
- “Poignant ... Even readers who think they have it all figured out will still find surprises at the end.”—Horn Book, Sept/Oct 2001
- “[A] chilling and well-constructed mystery.”—Publishers Weekly, Nov. 12, 2001
- On the Miami Herald's list of Best Books of 2001 —Sue Corbett, Miami Herald, Nov. 27, 2001
- “A very tasty cake of a plot.”—Marvin Hoffman, Houston Chronicle, Dec. 7, 2001
- “Not just a coming-of-age book but an edge-of-your-seat thriller.”—Elizabeth Ward, The Washington Post, Dec. 9, 2001
Publication Info
- Reading level: Ages 14 and up
- U.S. Hardcover: Dial Books (Penguin Putnam Inc.), 2001, ISBN 0803726058
- U.S. Paperback: Speak Books (Penguin Putnam Inc.), 2003, ISBN 0142500283
- British: HarperCollins Flamingo, 2003, ISBN: 0007141688