Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster

New York Times bestselling author of The Night Gardener! A Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner! A stunning historical fantasy . . . with compelling characters. School Library Journal STARRED REVIEW *A young chimney sweep gathers an unusual family around her in this bittersweet historical fantasy of love and loss. . . . As heartbreaking as bleak midwinterand as hopeful as early spring. Kirkus Reviews Its been five years since the Sweep disappeared. Orphaned and alone, 11-year-old Nan Sparrow had no other choice but to work for a ruthless chimney sweep named Wilkie Crudd. She spends her days sweeping out chimneys. The job is dangerous and thankless, but with her wits and will, Nan has managed to beat the deadly odds time and time again. When Nan gets stuck in a chimney fire, she fears the end has come. Instead, she wakes to find herself unharmed in an abandoned attic. And she is not alone. Huddled in the corner is a mysterious creaturea golemmade from soot and ash. With vivid characterstough, whip-smart Nan; lovable, childlike Charlie; their engaging companions; even the marvelously Dickensian villainsbestselling author Jonathan Auxier addresses issues like Dickensian child labor and anti-Semitism, but never becomes preachy or overbearing. As Nan painfully, tentatively, haltingly permits love to make her vulnerable, she also gains strength and purpose. Sweep is the story of a girl and her monster. Together, these two outcasts carve out a new lifesaving each other in the process. Lyrically told by one of todays most powerful storytellers, Sweep is a heartrending adventure about the everlasting gifts of friendship and wonder.