The Foreshadowing

It is 1915 and the First World War has only just begun.

17 year old Sasha is a well-to-do, sheltered-English girl. Just as her brother Thomas longs to be a doctor, she wants to nurse, yet girls of her class don't do that kind of work. But as the war begins and the hospitals fill with young soldiers, she gets a chance to help. But working in the hospital confirms what Sasha has suspected--she can see when someone is going to die. Her premonitions show her the brutal horrors on the battlefields of the Somme, and the faces of the soldiers who will die. And one of them is her brother Thomas.

Pretending to be a real nurse, Sasha goes behind the front lines searching for Thomas, risking her own life as she races to find him, and somehow prevent his death.
  • WINNER | 2007
    ALA Best Books for Young Adults
“Sedgwick’s powerful and haunting WWI story probes ideas of death and healing, fate and free will. . . . Readers will be immediately drawn in.”–Publishers Weekly, Starred

“In Sasha’s compelling, urgent narrative, Sedgwick skillfully connects young peoples’ struggles for power and self-determination with the deepest questions about fate, free will, and the meaning of patriotism.”–Booklist, Starred
Marcus Sedgwick is the author of White Crow, which was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal in the United Kingdom, and Revolver, which was also shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and was named a Printz Honor book in the United States. The author of many widely admired novels, he lives near Cambridge, England. View titles by Marcus Sedgwick

About

It is 1915 and the First World War has only just begun.

17 year old Sasha is a well-to-do, sheltered-English girl. Just as her brother Thomas longs to be a doctor, she wants to nurse, yet girls of her class don't do that kind of work. But as the war begins and the hospitals fill with young soldiers, she gets a chance to help. But working in the hospital confirms what Sasha has suspected--she can see when someone is going to die. Her premonitions show her the brutal horrors on the battlefields of the Somme, and the faces of the soldiers who will die. And one of them is her brother Thomas.

Pretending to be a real nurse, Sasha goes behind the front lines searching for Thomas, risking her own life as she races to find him, and somehow prevent his death.

Awards

  • WINNER | 2007
    ALA Best Books for Young Adults

Reviews

“Sedgwick’s powerful and haunting WWI story probes ideas of death and healing, fate and free will. . . . Readers will be immediately drawn in.”–Publishers Weekly, Starred

“In Sasha’s compelling, urgent narrative, Sedgwick skillfully connects young peoples’ struggles for power and self-determination with the deepest questions about fate, free will, and the meaning of patriotism.”–Booklist, Starred

Author

Marcus Sedgwick is the author of White Crow, which was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal in the United Kingdom, and Revolver, which was also shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and was named a Printz Honor book in the United States. The author of many widely admired novels, he lives near Cambridge, England. View titles by Marcus Sedgwick