In THE CAGED GRAVES, we first meet our heroine, Verity Boone, a young woman who has been living in Massachusetts with her relatives when she begins a correspondence with a boy, Nathaniel McClure, who lives in her hometown of Catawissa, PA (a real place, friends). The setting and the characters and the plot of this book captured me, and I very much enjoyed how plot elements that might be more familiar to me-like the romantic relationship and the mysterious deaths-were made that much different in the face of the framing device of those caged graves. Two separate people recommended THE CAGED GRAVES to me- April and Alyssa-and they did not steer me wrong. Not only that, it’s also a well-told story about mysterious deaths, a betrothed couple who are just getting to know one another (more on THESE TWO in a second, because YES), and the real purpose and meaning behind two caged graves outside the cemetery walls. Salerni is some pretty stellar historical fiction, friends. Inspired by a pair of real caged graves in present-day Catawissa, this historical YA novel weaves mystery, romance, and action into a suspenseful drama with human greed and passion at its core. Determined to understand, Verity finds herself in a life-and-death struggle with people she trusted. Perhaps the cages were built to keep grave robbers out.

Nobody in town will explain why, but Verity hears rumors of buried treasure and witchcraft. One truly horrifying surprise awaits her: the graves of her mother and aunt are enclosed in iron cages outside the local cemetery. Instead, she finds a father she barely knows and a future husband with whom she apparently has nothing in common. Summary: 17-year-old Verity Boone expects a warm homecoming when she returns to Catawissa, Pennsylvania, in 1867, pledged to marry a man she has never met.

Source: ARC from the publisher via NetGalley (Thanks, Clarion!)

We Hear the Dead by Dianne K. Salerni