A Coming Evil

Lisette Beaucaire was angry when her parents sent her away from Paris that September day in 1940. And although she knew that with the Nazis occupying the city she'd be safer at her Aunt Josephine's farm in the Dordogne valley, Lisette resented her "exile." She'd miss her friends and the excitement of being thirteen and starting a new school. Instead she'd have nothing to do but amuse her little cousin Cecile. That's what Lisette thought, but she soon found out that she wasn't the only visitor at the farmhouse. And then she encountered Gerard, a visitor from a long time ago, who proved to be a valiant ally at a crucial moment for the people who lived in the farmhouse. Vivian Vande Velde has published several books with Harcourt, including A Hidden Magic (illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman) and Tales from the Brothers Grimm and The Sisters Weird. During the German occupation of France in 1940, thirteen-year-old Lisette meets a ghost while living with her aunt who harbors Jewish and Gypsy children in the French countryside. Lisette Beaucaire is angry when her parents send her away from Paris to live on her aunt's farm during the Nazi occupation--she misses her friends, the excitement of being thirteen, and her first year at a new school--but Lisette soon discovers a visitor from the past who proves to be a valiant ally. When Lisette woke up on the morning of her birthday, she had the feeling that it was later than it should be.