Review - The Dark Unwinding

by Sharon Cameron
publisher: Scholastic
date of publication: September 1, 2012
format: hardcover
pages: 318
source: from the publisher for review

From Goodreads:

A spine-tingling tale of steampunk and spies, intrigue and heart-racing romance!

When Katharine Tulman's inheritance is called into question by the rumor that her eccentric uncle is squandering away the family fortune, she is sent to his estate to have him committed to an asylum. But instead of a lunatic, Katharine discovers a genius inventor with his own set of rules, who employs a village of nine hundred people rescued from the workhouses of London.

Katharine is now torn between protecting her own inheritance and preserving the peculiar community she grows to care for deeply. And her choices are made even more complicated by a handsome apprentice, a secretive student, and fears for her own sanity.

As the mysteries of the estate begin to unravel, it is clear that not only is her uncle's world at stake, but also the state of England as Katharine knows it. With twists and turns at every corner, this heart-racing adventure will captivate readers with its intrigue, thrills, and romance.

Sometimes, one finds oneself in a state of stasis when it comes to hobbies and interests.  When it comes to reading, very few of the books you pick up will capture your interest enough to perk up your curiosity and imagination.  I have been in such a state lately and have definitely needed some truly engaging and wonderful books to pick me up.  One of those books is the mysterious and dream-like The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron.  Upon meeting Katharine and learning of her purpose, I was intrigued and just had to know what would happen next.  A book that picks you up out of reading doldrums is a book that must be absorbed and appreciated.

Katharine Tulman is a prime example of the ways in which first looks can be deceiving.  At first, she gives the air of being a no-nonsense young girl born into privileged society.  However, you find out very quickly that though she is born of high society, she is a lonely, misused young woman who desperately wishes to carve a place in the world for herself.  It is her time spent at Stranwyne Keep and her actions there that fully sheds the light on who Katherine Tulman really is.  Her relationship with Tully, her eccentric, sweet, erratic, and genius uncle, is a lovely thing to see bloom.  Her contentions with Tully's assistant, Lane, add a different spark to the mix, which adds another layer to the story.  All in all, the character development in The Dark Unwinding is superb.  They take on a life of their own within the pages of Ms. Cameron's work.

The settings for The Dark Unwinding hold both steampunk and Gothic elements that give the story a wonderfully eerie feeling, all the while catching you up in the spirit of innovation.  Stranwyne Keep is the perfect backdrop for Katharine's examination of the working of her own mind, while Tully's workshop is a whimsical world where anything is possible.  As a reader, I wanted to take a stroll about the grounds of Stranwyne Keep and examine the amazing clockwork creations of Mr. Tully.  As a novice writer, I hope that I can inject that much life into my settings someday.  It was all very wonderfully enthralling.

I am very grateful to have had the chance to read The Dark Unwinding, for it came at a time that I was in need of a beautifully wrought book that I could escape into.  You can, indeed, escape into The Dark Unwinding, where you will wander alongside Katharine and experience the mystery and foreboding she experiences, as well as the discoveries and joys she finds.  If you love historical fiction with fantastic settings and well-developed characters, The Dark Unwinding should definitely be on the top of your list.

Buy The Dark Unwinding at the Following Locations:

Amazon / IndieBound / B&N / The Book Depository

Obligatory legal statement: This book was provided to me free of charge by the publisher. No monetary compensation was received in exchange for this fair and unbiased review. 

Owl's Eye View #5 - Meet Sharon Cameron!

Welcome to the September edition of Owl's Eye View.  We have come to the 5th month of the feature and I am happy to say that it is going well.  Today I am proud to feature another YA author who hails from my home state of Tennessee.  You'll have seen her on Starting the Next Chapter often as of late, and with good reason.  Her debut book, The Dark Unwinding (released September 1), made me very happy during an epic blogging and reading slump, thus succeeding where so many other books haven't lately.  I am, of course, talking about Sharon Cameron.  I hope you all will enjoy this interview as much as I did administering it.  Without further ado, please welcome...

Sharon Cameron

Photo by Rusty Russell

Marla: Good day, Sharon! Welcome to Starting the Next Chapter! It's always wonderful to meet a writer from my own state.  My first question is: What is a fun fact about yourself that you would like people to know?

Sharon: The desk in my office has an action figure of Jane Austen (to watch over me), a magnifying glass (for sleuthing needs), and a little book called Nancy Drew’s Guide to Life, a compilation of the most useful advice from Nancy, which pretty much tells me everything I need to know.

Marla:  You're speaking my language here!  Anyone who loves Jane Austen is pretty darn cool in my book.  

I'm discovering a lot about myself when it comes to developing story ideas. I'm always interested in how authors go through the process, as well. Where did you find the inspiration for The Dark Unwinding?

Sharon: The house that became Stranwyne Keep in The Dark Unwinding is a real place in Nottinghamshire, England called Welbeck Abbey. I came across Welbeck by accident, and couldn’t stop reading about its reclusive owner in the Victorian area. The sheer excessiveness of iron and glass horse stables, marble-floored cowsheds, a private gasworks, the underground ballroom where the family roller skated, and a village of 1500 men to support the extravagant building projects, all tickled my imagination. Was the Duke insane, or was his support of all these families –families who would have otherwise lived and died in abject poverty– just incredibly benevolent? Or was it maybe a little bit of both? The question was a fascinating one, and begged to be the setting of a novel.

Marla: And here I thought tales of the infamous 2nd Earl of Rochester were the strangest tales of the English nobility I had ever heard!  I must read more about Welbeck Abbey.

There's a certain magic in an author who can enchant you with their words and inspire you to write in turn. Who are your biggest literary influences?

Sharon: It’s too hard to choose! But if you’re forcing me, Marla, then I’d have to say Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier was maybe the biggest influence on my writing for The Dark Unwinding. The language in the book is beautiful, the tone gloomy and melancholic, steeped in atmosphere, and it has an amazing, twisty plot that is psychological and action thriller all at once. And of course there’s Bronte (I’m team Charlotte) and Austen. Where would I be without them?

Marla: Okay, you just mentioned the second member of my personal authorial holy trinity (Charlotte Bronte).  You're making my day, Sharon!

Sometimes, atmosphere is everything. Do you have a favorite place to settle in to write?

Sharon: Atmosphere is always everything! But my favorite place to write is anywhere that I can be left alone and completely to my imagination. No responsibilities, no distractions. I go to a fellow writing friend’s cabin a lot, where I can be by myself, or to a Panera Bread nowhere near my house (so I won’t run in to anyone I know), or sometimes I literally hide out in the front seat of my car.

Marla: At this point, even writing in the car sounds heavenly, as I rarely if ever get the chance to write uninterrupted.

I've recently fallen in love with the new bookstore in my town. Where is your favorite bookish place to visit?

Sharon: Oh, the library, hands down. Smorgasbord! My favorite is the one I used to visit as a kid. It has a wood burning fireplace that they still crank up on cold days in the winter. Loved that.

Marla: That sounds a lot like the library my husband frequented as a child.  It's a beautiful library!

It's always fun to hear what authors have to say about their own characters. What is your favorite thing about your protagonist, Katherine?

Sharon: I think my favorite thing about Katharine is that she has an inner life that is completely different from her outward persona. What Katharine shows to the world is a person that is intensely practical, logical, and with a certain amount of bravado. Inwardly she is passionate, unsure, and very imaginative. Like most of us Katharine has hidden depths. As a writer it was super fun to help her keep her real self well and truly buried until it was time for that outer shell to crack.

Marla: I loved all of the little ways in which Katherine is like her uncle, who is such a sweet man and a great character.  That was such a great facet to discover.

We've come to the last question, which I always try to make a little fun. What would you do if you were to inherit a huge estate and discover that there are unusual things happening?

Sharon: What? You mean other than assuming I’d died and gone to heaven? Well, let’s see, first there would have to be major a exploration, including the tapping of walls, investigation of bookshelves (you know one of them opens!), and close scrutiny of all decorative woodwork. Then, when all the hidden spaces, passages, doorways, and tunnels had been discovered, I would shut them all up again, NEVER TELL A SOUL, and go about my days writing letters in the morning room, arranging flowers, riding my horse across the moor, and researching the history of my ancient and interesting house. Oh, and did you say unusual happenings? Well, in that case, I’m sure my Nancy Drew guide would tell me exactly what to do.

Thanks so much, Sharon! It's great to have you on StNC today. Congratulations on The Dark Unwinding's release!

About Sharon

Photo by Rusty Russell (2011)

Sharon Cameron was awarded the 2009 Sue Alexander Most Promising New Work Award by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators for her debut novel, The Dark Unwinding. When not writing Sharon can be found thumbing dusty tomes, shooting her longbow, or indulging in her lifelong search for secret passages.

Find Sharon on:

Her website / Facebook /Twitter / Goodreads

About The Dark Unwinding

The Dark Unwinding begins when seventeen year old Katharine Tulman is sent to her uncle’s remote and bizarre estate to have him committed to an asylum. But instead of a lunatic, she finds a child-like, genius inventor with his own set of rules, employing a village of nine hundred people rescued from the workhouses of London. Katharine is torn between protecting her own inheritance and preserving her uncle’s peculiar world that she has come to care for deeply, a choice made even more complicated by a gray-eyed apprentice, and the strange visions and nightmares that have her secretly fearing for her own sanity.


The Dark Unwinding Now on Shelves!

It's September 1st!  Do you know what that means?  Fall is coming, you say?  Well, that's nice to look forward to, but not it.  Try again!  School has started?  That goes without saying, but also is not what I'm here celebrating.  No, today's happenings are all about 1 new Tennesseean YA author's brand new book.  I'm talking about the one and only Sharon Cameron and her book, The Dark Unwinding!

I can tell you first-hand just how fun and mysterious this book is, so I'm very happy to be able to take part in the release day festivities on The Dark Unwinding Tour.  In honor of this special day, Sharon has put together a YouTube video to share.  I giggled my way through it and hope you enjoy it as well.

Congratulations, Sharon!

from Starting the Next Chapter

The Dark Unwinding Tour - A Guest Post by Sharon Cameron

Welcome to day 3 of The Dark Unwinding blog tour!  I'm so glad to take part in this tour, for The Dark Unwinding is a wonderful book and Sharon Cameron is such a gracious author.  She has been great to work with, as evidenced by her guest post today.  When asked to write about her favorite real-life mystery, she really came through with an enlightening post that speaks to the heart of The Dark Unwinding.  I hope you all have as much fun reading it as I did!

Burning Curiosity

by Sharon Cameron

I adore hidden things and the unknown. Hence my younger self’s obsession with Nancy Drew and my older self’s fascination with just about anything shrouded by time. The past conceals so much that is still true, and yet we don’t know what that truth is. The curiosity burns! Tollund Man (see image here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/ tolland-man.html) is 2,000 year old body that is slightly gross but super fascinating, and the wondering about who he was and why he died will probably kill me someday. I have the same unfortunate problem with a missing chest of Jacobite gold and the inhabitants of Roanoke.

But a mystery perhaps less epic, and yet just as curiosity burning to me, was: what was up with the Fifth Duke of Portland? The Duke inherited an ancient house and vast lands in Nottinghamshire in the mid-1800s, and not only did he employ a small town’s worth of men, keeping them at work with extravagant building projects, but he had a railway in his basement, for the purpose of delivering roast chickens, day or night, and he communicated with servants only by letterbox. He had walls built around his bed, and a special carriage made so that no one could see when he was in it (taking the precaution to often run the carriage back and forth when he wasn’t in it, so no one could be sure). All the rooms in his sprawling mansion were painted pink, and he had miles of underground, gaslit tunnels dug, so he walk the grounds of his estate alone and unseen.

My first reaction? Well, that’s a little crazy! But then I thought about how time can hide the truth. The man was definitely squandering his fortune, but is there a better use for money than to provide twenty years of employment to hundreds families that might have otherwise died in a workhouse? And how often does anyone just up and tell a Duke that he isn’t behaving normally? And what is normal, anyway? What if he wasn’t crazy, but just shy, or disfigured, or suffering from an anxiety disorder? The curiosity burns!

So instead of letting my curiosity possibly kill me this time, I allowed the idea of the Duke’s bizarre estate and to become the inspiration for Stranwyne Keep in The Dark Unwinding, creating a child-like inventor as its reclusive owner. In my story, Uncle Tulman uses grandiose building projects as a way to express himself. The tunnels, pink walls, ritualistic habits, and machines of clockwork are his means of control, a method of understanding a world that is utterly confusing to him. Maybe the Fifth Duke of Portland, in his own way, was doing much the same.

About the Author

Photo by Rusty Russel (2011)

Sharon Cameron was awarded the 2009 Sue Alexander Most Promising New Work Award by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators for her debut novel, The Dark Unwinding. When not writing Sharon can be found thumbing dusty tomes, shooting her longbow, or indulging in her lifelong search for secret passages.

Find Sharon on:

Her website:  sharoncameronbooks.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sharon-Cameron/218828031528005

Twitter: @CameronSharonE

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11733187-the-dark-unwinding

About the Book

The Dark Unwinding begins when seventeen year old Katharine Tulman is sent to her uncle’s remote and bizarre estate to have him committed to an asylum. But instead of a lunatic, she finds a child-like, genius inventor with his own set of rules, employing a village of nine hundred people rescued from the workhouses of London. Katharine is torn between protecting her own inheritance and preserving her uncle’s peculiar world that she has come to care for deeply, a choice made even more complicated by a gray-eyed apprentice, and the strange visions and nightmares that have her secretly fearing for her own sanity.


Check Out the Tour!

August 26 Hannah @ The Book Vortex 

Guest Post- Introduction 

August 27 Marielle @ Book Thoughts by Marielle 

Interview with Sharon 

August 28 Marla @ Starting the Next Chapter 

Guest Post: Favorite Real Life Mystery 

August 29 Amy @ Denim Jacket Librarian 

List: 10 Pieces of Advice 

August 30 Lauren @ The Housework Can Wait 

Interview with Sharon 

August 31 Tirzah @ The Compulsive Reader 

Character Interview: Mary 

September 1: RELEASE DAY! 

September 2 Alli @ Magnet 4 Books’ Reviews 

Guest Post 

September 3 Emily @ The Ninja Librarian 

Interview with Sharon 

September 4 Christina @ A Reader of Fictions 

Character Interview: TBA 

September 5 Jessica @ Wastepaper Prose 

Guest Post 

September 6 Sara @ Through the Looking Glass 

Interview with Sharon 

September 7 Katie @ Katie’s Book Blog 

Character Interview: Lane 

September 8 Jessica K @ The Cozy Reader 

Guest Post: A Discussion on the Novel’s Setting 

September 9 Linda @ Mission to Read 

Interview with Sharon

a Rafflecopter giveaway

TN Author Event Alert! - Sharon Cameron

What are you doing on Monday evening?  If you're near the Nashville area, how about a launch party?  The official launch for Sharon Cameron's The Dark Unwinding will take place tomorrow, Monday, August 27th, from 6:30 PM to 8 PM at Parnassus Books.  Come on out to meet Sharon and snag an early copy of The Dark Unwinding!  Nashville author events are a blast, so make sure you're there!

Who: Sharon Cameron

What: The Dark Unwinding Launch Party

When: August 27, 2012 from 6:30-8 PM

Where: Parnassus Books

3900 Hillsboro Pike

Nashville, TN

Why: Because this book is awesome!

Waiting on Wednesday #42

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event from Jill at Breaking the Spine. To participate, simply share that book(s) you are eagerly awaiting the release of and report back to Breaking the Spine with the link to your post. Clicking the link above will take you straight to her post and widget.

It's time to add another 3 books to the list of those I'm absolutely dying to get my hands on!  I am beyond excited for all of this week's picks.

Dark Companion by Marta Acosta (coming July 3, 2012 from Tor Teen)

When foster teen Jane Williams is invited to attend elite Birch Grove Academy for Girls and escape her violent urban neighborhood, she thinks the offer is too good to be true. She's even offered her own living quarters, the groundskeeper's cottage in the center of the birch grove.

Something's not quite right about the school -- or is it Jane? She thinks she sees things in the birch grove at night. She's also beginning to suspect that the elegant headmistress and her sons are hiding secrets. Lucky is the gorgeous, golden son who is especially attentive to Jane, and Jack is the sardonic puzzling brother.

The school with its talented teachers and bright students is a dream for a science and math geek like Jane. She also loves her new friends, including hilarious poetry-spouting rich girl, Mary Violet. But the longer Jane stays at Birch Grove, the more questions she has about the disappearance of another scholarship girl and a missing faculty member.

Jane discovers one secret about Birch Grove, which only leads to more mysteries. What is she willing to sacrifice in order to stay at this school...and be bound to Birch Grove forever?

Why I'm Waiting: Dark Companion sounds like just the right combination of mystery and supernatural.  I'm really looking forward to reading it!

 

 Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff (coming September 18, 2012 from Thomas Dunne Books)

A DYING LAND
The Shima Imperium is verging on the brink of environmental collapse; decimated by clockwork industrialization and the machine-worshippers of the Lotus Guild. The skies are red as blood, land choked with toxic pollution, wildlife ravaged by mass extinctions.

AN IMPOSSIBLE QUEST
The hunters of the imperial court are charged by their Shōgun to capture a thunder tiger—a legendary beast, half-eagle, half-tiger. But any fool knows thunder tigers have been extinct for more than a century, and the price of failing the Shōgun is death.

A SIXTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL
Yukiko is a child of the Fox clan, possessed of a hidden gift that would see her executed by the Lotus Guild. Accompanying her father on the Shōgun’s hunt, she finds herself stranded: a young woman alone in Shima’s last wilderness, with only a furious, crippled thunder tiger for company. Even though she can hear his thoughts, even though she saved his life, all she knows for certain is he’d rather see her dead than help her.

But together, the pair will form an indomitable friendship, and rise to challenge the might of an empire.

Why I'm Waiting: Steampunk!  Japan!  Great plot description!  Gorgeous cover!  Need I say more?

 

The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron (coming September 1, 2012 from Scholastic)

A spine-tingling tale of steampunk and spies, intrigue and heart-racing romance!

When Katharine Tulman's inheritance is called into question by the rumor that her eccentric uncle is squandering away the family fortune, she is sent to his estate to have him committed to an asylum. But instead of a lunatic, Katharine discovers a genius inventor with his own set of rules, who employs a village of nine hundred people rescued from the workhouses of London.

Katharine is now torn between protecting her own inheritance and preserving the peculiar community she grows to care for deeply. And her choices are made even more complicated by a handsome apprentice, a secretive student, and fears for her own sanity.

As the mysteries of the estate begin to unravel, it is clear that not only is her uncle's world at stake, but also the state of England as Katharine knows it. With twists and turns at every corner, this heart-racing adventure will captivate readers with its intrigue, thrills, and romance.

Why I'm Waiting: Sharon Cameron is an author from the state I call home, which is always exciting in and of itself.  When you take into account that she has written what promises to be a story full of mystery, romance, and steampunk goodness... well, I'm a goner!