Sneak Peek Saturday: A Blue So Dark

A Blue So Dark

By: Holly Schindler

Pud date: May 1st, 2010

Terrified that her mother, a schizophrenic and an artist, is a mirror that reflects her own future, sixteen-year-old Aura struggles with her overwhelming desires to both chase artistic pursuits and keep madness at bay.

As her mother sinks deeper into the darkness of mental illness, the hunger for a creative outlet keeps drawing Aura toward the depths of her own imagination—the shadows of make-believe that she finds frighteningly similar to her mother’s hallucinations.

Convinced that creative equals crazy, Aura shuns her art, and her life unravels in the process.
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Prologue

I dug through the lot, picking up each new treasure and turning it over the way I’d imagined, before leaving Missouri, that I’d turn over seashells along the fringes of the exotic Florida shore. “Mermaids $2,” a sign taped to the gray metal tub advertised, and suddenly, I knew exactly what I wanted to take home from our disappointing trip. I was still trying to pick which mermaid I’d buy when a redheaded sea creature with a shiny gold tail was snatched from my hand.

“How much for all of them?” Mom asked, tossing the mermaid back the way a fisherman tossed back a tiny catch that just wasn’t enough. Her smiling face glowed from behind the curtain of her long black hair. God, that smile, it had a thousand watts of pride in it, and stretched farther across her cheeks than the grin she’d worn when I’d won Best Painting in the All School Art Exhibition the year before.

“All?” the man at the counter laughed. “Good grief, lady, waddaya want ’em all for?”

“For my daughter,” Mom said softly. She looked down at me, her eyes not just glittering, but snapping with fire, like two 4th of July sparklers. “She can’t decide which one she wants. I know, because I’d never be able to, either.” She ran her finger down the length of my nose, almost like you’d stroke a favorite pet, adding, “We’re just alike, me and Aura.”

And you know, back then, the idea of that didn’t scare the absolute hell out of me...

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I'm really excited for this book. I think the concept is fantastic and I love books that center on characters and their struggles. You can find our more about Holly Schindler by visiting her  official website or blog.