Voyages in the Underworld of Orpheus Black

Harry Black is lost between the world of war and the land of myth in this illustrated novel that transports the tale of Orpheus to World War II-era London.

Brothers Marcus and Julian Sedgwick team up to pen this haunting tale of another pair of brothers, caught between life and death in World War II. Harry Black, a conscientious objector, artist, and firefighter battling the blazes of German bombing in London in 1944, wakes in the hospital to news that his soldier brother, Ellis, has been killed. In the delirium of his wounded state, Harry's mind begins to blur the distinctions between the reality of war-torn London, the fiction of his unpublished sci-fi novel, and the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Driven by visions of Ellis still alive and a sense of poetic inevitability, Harry sets off on a search for his brother that will lead him deep into the city's Underworld. With otherworldly paintings by Alexis Deacon depicting Harry's surreal descent further into the depths of hell, this eerily beautiful blend of prose, verse, and illustration delves into love, loyalty, and the unbreakable bonds of brotherhood as it builds to a fierce indictment of mechanized warfare.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Walker Books Us
Published: 08/13/2019
ISBN: 9781536204377
Pages: 320
Weight: 1.85lbs
Size: 8.30h x 6.70w x 1.30d

Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 06/01/2019
Publishers Weekly 06/10/2019
Voice of Youth Advocates 06/01/2019 - Recommended - Better Than Most
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 07/01/2019
Booklist 06/01/2019 pg. 93
School Library Journal 08/01/2019 pg. 82

Accelerated Reader Quiz #/Name: 507092 / Voyages in the Underworld of Orpheus Black
Reading Level: 5.4 / Interest Level: Upper Grade / Point Value: 6