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Book

Each and every spark

Call Number

  • J SWIN (CEN, EAS, OSH)

Edition

First edition.

Publication Information

New York, NY : Quill Tree Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2026]

Physical Description

268 pages ; 22 cm

Audience

Grades 4-6 Quill Tree Books

Summary

Straddling two different timelines in Paris, France -- one set in the Nazi-occupied 1940s; the other in our current day -- this novel follows the mystery surrounding a painting that went missing during the French Resistance's desperate push against Hitler's regime ... only to be found in modern-day Paris by a girl determined to uncover the meaning behind it. Paris, present day. Penny Marks has never felt so alone. Forced to move to France for some fancy job her mom couldn't turn down, she's now miles away from her best friend, her childhood home, and any resemblance of her old life. She has her family, sure, but neither one of her older brothers seems to mind the cross-Atlantic move. If she hadn't hastily quit art after all that drama went down last year, she'd at least have something to keep her mind off the fact that life back home is moving on without her. Paris, 1943. Marie Bonnet has never felt so afraid. When the German army seized power over France and the Nazis took her father away, she and her sister Heloise were left to carry on by themselves. One wrong move on their part could mean danger. But when Marie finds evidence that Heloise has secretly become part of the French Resistance, she's desperate to join in the fight, too. Any small act of rebellion against this senseless oppression could help their country -- but it could also cost them their lives. Penny and Marie's worlds collide when an old, mysterious painting resurfaces in present-day Paris after decades of being hidden. Tucked inside the painting is a note whose message -- scrawled in faded French -- may lead Penny to a girl named Marie -- and the fate that awaited her.

Subjects