The Secret Language of Stones

July 18, 2016
During the summer of 1918, Opaline Duplessi, the narrator of bestseller Rose's mesmerizing sequel to 2015's The Witch of Painted Sorrows, is working as a jeweler in Paris's Palais Royal. Opaline is skilled at her art, and she also has an unusual ability: "to receive messages that were inaudible and invisible to others" through handling stones. That gift enables her to communicate with the dead, and is a talent much in demand by those grieving for soldiers lost in combat. One such mourner, Denise Alouette, approaches her about her late son, Jean Luc Forêt, who was a popular newspaper columnist and crusader for the arts. After being given a charm connected with Jean Luc--a crystal egg containing one of his hairs--Opaline begins to hear a voice that seems to be talking with her directly. Meanwhile, Opaline is also caught up in intrigues involving Russian émigrés and the fate of the Romanovs. The complex protagonist and evocative prose will appeal even to readers who don't as a rule enjoy the paranormal. Agent: Dan Conaway, Writers House.

April 15, 2016

Opaline Duplessi, descended from the powerful witch La Lune, has always alchemically communed with stones, so becoming a jewelry designer seems a natural progression. In 1918, World War I is still raging, and there is less demand for fashion jewelry. Driven by a personal tragic loss, Opaline goes to Paris, where she apprentices in the shop of friends supporting the war effort by making mourning jewelry, magic-infused gem talismans for the loved ones of lost soldiers. While crafting an amulet for a grieving mother, she has a frightening experience, receiving a direct message from the dead soldier. Is she going mad? VERDICT A dazzling mix of history, mystery, and mystical dark arts, the second volume in Rose's paranormal historical series (after The Witch of Painted Sorrows) bewitches from start to finish. Her amazing ability to make her story line believable and her extraordinary protagonist relatable result in an unforgettable psychic thriller. [See Prepub Alert, 2/1/16.]--Debbie Haupt, St. Charles City-Cty. Lib. Dist., St. Peters, MO

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2016
Rose sets this follow-up to her best-selling The Witch of Painted Sorrows (2015) in Paris during WWI where beautiful young Opaline Duplessi, the daughter of the previous book's heroine, Sandrine, works as a jeweler for a Russian immigrant and his family. Unlike her mother, Opaline wants nothing to do with the legacy of the witch La Lune, their dangerous, powerful ancestor, but she has been using her otherworldly powers to help grieving mothers and widows connect with the sons and husbands they've lost in the war. When Denise Alouette comes to Opaline's shop to commission a talisman to connect with her son Jean Luc, a journalist slain in a bombing, the last thing Opaline expects is to form a connection with Jean Luc outside of the reading she does for his mother. Opaline's communication with Jean Luc stirs up the kind of passion she's never allowed herself to feel before, even as she contemplates accepting a dangerous mission from her employer. Rose offers up an exciting mix of adventure, intrigue, and romance in this thrilling historical tale.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)