The Caged Graves

The Caged Graves by Dianne K. Salerni

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Verity Boone returns to Catawissa, Pennsylvania, her birthplace, to marry Nathan McClure.  Although she knew him as a child, which she doesn’t remember, this will be the first time she has seen him face-to- face since that time.  She will also be reunited with her father, who sent her away after her mother died.  Things are awkward at first with Nate and her father.  Her father seems distant and things don’t go as well with Nate as she would like.  She wonders if Nathan just wanted to marry her because of his interest in her father’s farm.   Things are further complicated by the fact that the young doctor in town is openly attracted to her.  Her discovery that her mother and her aunt’s grave are inside cages and located in unhallowed ground outside the cemetery leads her on a quest to understand just why that would be so.  She makes some dangerous discoveries that put her life in peril, but help her to understand her heart.  The book is great middle school and high school reading, but probably more for girls.  The story is placed in 1867, so teachers could use the book as a free reading book in connection with Civil War study. 



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