As you read the reviews on Bookshop Talk, you'll notice that every review is positive. No, we're not a bunch of literary
pushovers who love everything we pick up; we just see no point in telling you about a book if we didn't like it.

September 1, 2014

FOR DARKNESS SHOWS THE STARS by Diana Peterfreund, 2012


Elliot North is a dutiful Luddite and a dutiful daughter who runs her father’s estate. When the boy she loved, Kai, a servant, asked her to run away with him four years ago, she refused, although it broke her heart. Now Kai is back. And while Elliot longs for a second chance with her first love, she knows it could mean betraying everything she’s been raised to believe is right. (Amazon)

Reviewed by Brooke-Wife, Mother, Reader

Jane Austen's Persuasion set in a post apocalyptic society.  Fascinating. Really this was a surprise for me (meaning I liked it more than I thought I would). There were the familiar elements of Persuasion, but also so much more.  

The setting was almost a character on its own.  So many of the circumstances of the story revolved around the setting.  Elliot, the heroine of the story, was tied to her farm, keeping it running, trying to keep her family and the workers alive.  


The ages of the characters were very young.  It was hard for me to picture these teenagers dealing with all of this, but that is part of the post-apocalyptic society.


The post-apocalyptic rules and regulations created much of the conflict in the story.  When do you follow the rules?  When do you do what you believe is right, if that goes against those rules?

FOR THE DARKNESS SHOWS THE STARS was a book about decision making and the consequences that follow, good or bad.  


Luckily, with the base of Jane Austen's Persuasion, there was at least some sense of there being a happy ending.  And, as much as this is a love story, it had little physical romance in it.  

Market: Teen/Young Adult
Language: Mild
Sensuality: Mild
Violence: Mild
Mature Themes: Growing up fast

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