PARADE OF SHADOWS

It’s 1907, and 16-year-old Julia Hamilton has left behind her sheltered British schoolgirl life to travel with her father to the Levant, “the lands around the distant Mediterranean with exotic names like Syria and Jerusalem.” Though it’s an area of the world with much history and culture, Julia’s early concerns are over what to pack and where she will wash her hair in the desert. The carefree and romantic trip she had imagined turns into a life-changing experience in a region in turmoil, with snakebites, a murder attempt, spies, revolutionaries, conspiracy and passion. This engaging tale of the Ottoman Empire prior to World War I teaches much history, mostly through dialogue, and has clear historical lessons for today’s readers about greed and meddling in cultures without understanding them. Though a map would be useful for a work so rooted in time and place, and the epilogue seems unfinished, Whelan has crafted yet another fine work of historical fiction with a likable and strong-willed heroine. (Fiction. 10-14)