Genre
YA fiction
Setting and Context
fictional place called Wyldcliffe, London, present and past
Narrator and Point of View
Narrator: Evie, Lady Agnes;
Point of view: first person
Tone and Mood
Tone: understated
Mood: adventurous, threatening
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist: Evie; Antagonist: High Mistress Mrs. Hartle
Major Conflict
Evie comes to a new school at a place called Wyldcliffe where she begins to have strange experiences and connects with a mysterious boy who seems to know more about the history of the place than what is expected from a boy of his age.
Climax
Evie is forced to face and fight the coven led by Mrs. Hartle; she awakens her powers and fights them of. The coven flees taking Sebastian with them.
Foreshadowing
"When I opened my eyes again, the rider had dismounted and was hunched over me. He was only a boy, a few years older than me, but he looked as though he had come from a different world, a storybook land of knights and elves and princes."-Chpt. One
-Sebastian does indeed come from a different world, a different time to be precise.
Understatement
"Be sensible, Evie; of course that teacher didn't have a dagger in her pocket. It was simply a
letter opener shaped like a knife."-Chpt Ten
-The teacher did indeed have a knife and Evie was in more danger than what she tries to convince herself.
Allusions
"You know, like Cinderella, only with about two hundred ugly stepsisters."-Chpt. Two
Imagery
A lot of the novel takes place during the night, and a lot of the truths are revealed at night.
Paradox
"Why was everyone at Wyldcliffe so obsessed with the past? It seemed more real to them than the present."-Chpt. Fourteen
Parallelism
"It is the end of everything.
And it is a beginning."-Chpt. Twenty-eight
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
"You have called their spirits and they have answered. The Fire has spoken to you." -Chpt. Nine