Stevens Memorial Library (North Andover)

The seventh mansion, Maryse Meijer

eng

no index present

fiction

The seventh mansion

1136960928

Maryse Meijer

"A sensitive and awkward loner who is deeply concerned with the environment, sixteen-year-old Xie finds community in his rural town with Jo and Leni, two queer girls his age, with whom he frees some captive mink from a local farm. When Xie is the only one caught, his small world gets smaller: Kicked out of high school, he becomes increasingly connected with nature, spending his time in the birch woods behind his house, attending extremist activist meetings, and serving as a custodian for what others ignore, abuse, and discard. Exploring the woods alone one night, Xie finds the relic of a Catholic saint hidden in a nearby church. Regal and dressed in ornate armor, it captivates him. After weeks of visits, Xie steals the skeleton, hides it in his attic bedroom, and develops a passionate relationship with the bones and spirit of the saint--the martyred Pancratius, or P.--who becomes Xie's companion. But when Xie's beloved woods are threatened by loggers, he and P. go to great lengths to protect them as Xie struggles to balance his conflicting--and increasingly extreme--ideals of purity, sacrifice, and responsibility. When the logging finally begins, blood is suddenly on the leaves."--, Provided by publisher

adult

7th mansion