In a sensual paranormal romance, a teen girl’s doppelgänger from 1348 Florence lures her into the past in hopes of exacting a deadly trade.
It was meant to be a diversion — a summer in Florence with her best friend, Liam, and his travel-writer mom, doing historical research between breaks for gelato. A chance to forget that back in Vermont, May’s parents, and all semblance of safety, were breaking up. But when May wakes one night sensing someone in her room, only to find her ghostly twin staring back at her, normalcy becomes a distant memory. And when later she follows the menacing Cristofana through a portale to fourteenth-century Florence, May never expects to find safety in the eyes of Marco, a soulful painter who awakens in her a burning desire and makes her feel truly seen. The wily Cristofana wants nothing less of May than to inhabit each other’s lives, but with the Black Death ravaging Old Florence, can May’s longing for Marco’s touch be anything but madness? Lush with atmosphere both passionate and eerie, this evocative tale follows a girl on the brink of womanhood as she dares to transcend the familiar — and discovers her sensual power.
Noyes creates an eerie mood and limns a hauntingly vivid landscape; against this rich backdrop, her characters explore and test the bounds of their identities and their relationships.
—The Horn Book
[A] rich and haunting premise.
—Publishers Weekly
Noyes portrays life in the Middle Ages and the realities of the Black Death in rich detail... Elements of romance, history, and horror could appeal to a wide range of readers...
—Booklist Online
Dark, deceptive, seductive, and haunting, Deborah Noyes' Plague in the Mirror is a novel rich in history.
—El Paso Times
