Starred review from July 20, 2009
With this haunting love letter to New Orleans, Morris makes her YA debut, telling the story of 15-year-old Rebecca Brown, a proud New Yorker sent to live with a family friend while her father travels overseas. Ostracized as an outsider, Rebecca struggles to fit in and cope with her new surroundings. When she befriends Lisette, a ghost who has haunted the cemetery ever since her mysterious death 155 years earlier, Rebecca is drawn into an eerie story of betrayal, loss, old curses and family secrets. As Mardi Gras approaches, so does the culmination of something dark and angry that has been brewing for decades. This moody tale thoroughly embraces the rich history, occult lore and complex issues of race, ethnicity, class and culture that have defined New Orleans for centuries, turning the city into a character in its own right. Rather than shy away from the shameful or tragic moments of the past, Morris uses them to capture the city's essence. From Mardi Gras rituals to voodoo spells, Hurricane Katrina to jazz, this is a story that could only be told in New Orleans. Ages 12–up.
November 1, 2009
Gr 7-10-Rebecca Brown is miserable about spending six months in New Orleans with her wacky Aunt Claudia while her father goes to China on business. A New York girl through and through, the 16-year-old must attend a stuck-up private school where she is an outsider without a prestigious family. She makes her only friend in the cemetery across the road. Rebecca soon realizes that nobody else can see or hear Lisette and comes to learn that her new companion is actually the ghost of a girl who died during the 1853 yellow fever outbreak. Rebecca's situation worsens after she begins to date rich and popular Anton Grey and becomes entangled in a centuries-old curse on one of the oldest and most powerful families in the neighborhood. A hair-raising parade-float ride during Mardi Gras ends with Rebecca's life on the line. While Morris infuses her tale with interesting facts about a historically rich city, her awkward writing style detracts from the story. Character reactions are unrealistic, particularly Rebecca's casual acceptance of a ghost, but at its best, "Ruined" offers a fascinating account of Mardi Gras festivities and has a chilling conclusion."Tara Kehoe, Plainsboro Public Library, NJ"
Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
January 1, 2010
Lonely in New Orleans, New Yorker Rebecca gratefully befriends Lisette. Lisette, unfortunately, is a ghost whose long-ago murder cursed several prominent families--including that of Rebecca's maybe-boyfriend Anton. Rebecca becomes entangled in a web of prophecy, family secrets, and hushed-up history that endangers her own life. Morris evokes her New Orleans setting in loving detail, occasionally at the expense of plot.
(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
September 15, 2009
Grades 8-12 In this fast-paced novel with wide teen appeal, Rebeccas father leaves on an extended business trip and places the 15-year-old in the care of a family friend living in New Orleans tony Garden District. Snubbed by her snooty new classmates, Rebecca pines for her old life in New York City until she meets a black teen named Lisette wandering among the tombs of Lafayette Cemetery. Rebecca soon learns that her mysterious new friend was the victim of a savage murder more than 150 years ago and that the ghost is readying for the restitution of a voodoo curse placed upon her killers family. Even more disconcerting, the in-crowds intense interest in Rebecca may have something to do with the curse. This atmospheric page-turner captures the exotic allure of the Big Easy and delves into the citys fascinating past, its m'lange of cultures, and the grim reality of its longstanding class and race divisions.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)