A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

I think you'll enjoy this one.

This book is one of the hottest new books to hit our SRR bookshelves. Bray has struck gold on the Teens' Top Ten list with "A Great and Terrible Beauty" placing 6th in 2004. I can't wait to read it.

Arni in 5D has said it was good and wants to read the other two in the series. She has returned it and right now it is sitting on the shelf in the SRR just begging to be read!

It sounds different from other teen lit books as it is a period piece set in Victorian England. I also like the supernatural side of it in that the character has "visions" of what will happen in the future. Sounds good to me.

Amazon.com Review
A Victorian boarding school story, a Gothic mansion mystery, a gossipy romp about a clique of girlfriends, and a dark other-worldly fantasy--jumble them all together and you have this complicated and unusual first novel.

Gemma, 16, has had an unconventional upbringing in India, until the day she foresees her mother’s death in a black, swirling vision that turns out to be true. Sent back to England, she is enrolled at Spence, a girls’ academy with a mysterious burned-out East Wing. There Gemma is snubbed by powerful Felicity, beautiful Pippa, and even her own dumpy roommate Ann, until she blackmails herself and Ann into the treacherous clique. Gemma is distressed to find that she has been followed from India by Kartik, a beautiful young man who warns her to fight off the visions. Nevertheless, they continue, and one night she is led by a child-spirit to find a diary that reveals the secrets of a mystical Order. The clique soon finds a way to accompany Gemma to the other-world realms of her visions "for a bit of fun" and to taste the power they will never have as Victorian wives, but they discover that the delights of the realms are overwhelmed by a menace they cannot control. Gemma is left wi! th the knowledge that her role as the link between worlds leaves her with a mission to seek out the "others" and rebuild the Order. A Great and Terrible Beauty is an impressive first book in what should prove to be a fascinating trilogy.

You can order A Great and Terrible Beauty at Book Depository