The Foreshadowing

This was an amazing book! It was my first read by this author, and he blew me away. My twelve-year-old daughter begged me to read this book. It was either this one or the Twilight series. I chose this one, and have no regrets. This book was amazingly written book. A wonderful story, one that will keep you turning the pages. Being an adult and an aspiring romance fiction writer, I would have loved to see Jack and Alexandra get together, though I wasn't quite sure how old Jack was. But really, what an amazing story, one that will leave you pondering.

It was my first read by this author, and he blew me away with his writing as well as the story. My twelve-year-old daughter begged me to read it, and once I started I quickly realized I wasn't going to regret it. This book was not just well written but also a great story that will keep you turning the pages. I wasn't quite sure how old Jack was but would have loved to see him and Alexandra end up together. What an amazing story, one that will leave you pondering, and all fuzzy inside. Definitely one I'll never forget.

Placed in both England and France, this book tells the story of Alexandra Fox and her amazing ability to see death before it happens. Alexandra has two older brothers, Edgar and Thomas. When World War, I breaks out, Edgar joins the army and fights in France. Thomas, however, decides that he wants to be a doctor. His father, a doctor himself, disagrees and insists that Thomas join the army. Edgar soon is killed in France, an event Alexandra saw in a vision. Thomas leaves medical school and joins the army after this. Thomas is Alexandra's favorite brother, and she is closer to him, so she is frightened when one night she sees his death. She decides to do something about it, to change what may happen to Thomas. Read this book to find out what Alexandra goes through to save her brother's life.

For any of those kids out there who think war is fun and filled with heroics, this title will be a "must read." The horror, the stupidity of it all surrounds the short chapters like barb wire, with the premonitions of Sasha's offering only modest glimpses of surcease. Chapters are mercifully short, but the story is unrelenting in its examination of fate vs. free will, with the question of what is future, what is past, always lurking. The chapters go from 101 down to 1, reminding the reader that it may all not be destiny, after all.

Alexandra Fox can see the future. Before you start thinking that her story is one of predicting winning lottery numbers and envisioning her future husband, though, be forewarned that the only thing Alexandra is able to see in the future is death. It all starts when, at the age of five, Alexandra knows, with utter certainty, that her playmate Clare will die. When her friend does die suddenly, and when Alexandra has ongoing visions of death and destruction --- visions that always prove accurate --- Alexandra's parents and brothers soon start to see her as a freak, refusing to acknowledge her gift. Or is it a curse? When World War I breaks out, 17-year-old Alexandra desperately wants to help. Her oldest brother Edgar enlists almost immediately, but her other brother Tom opposes the war and wants to be a doctor instead. Alexandra finally convinces her father to let her train as a nurse, but her premonitions of her patients' deaths become almost too much for her to handle. When family circumstances finally drive Tom to the front, Alexandra has a recurring vision of his death, a vision that compels her to follow him to France in a desperate attempt to avert his fate. On the way, she encounters a man, known only as Hoodoo Jack, who also sees terrible visions of the future. Is it possible that Alexandra is among the subjects of his premonitions? As Alexandra delves deeper into the horrors of the Somme, she also undertakes a more introspective journey --- to try to discover the extent, and limitations, of her unusual gift. "If I can see the future, then what does that mean?" Alexandra writes. "It would be like knowing the end of a story right from the start, almost as if you were reading it backward. And who wants to know how their own story ends?" Marcus Sedgwick cleverly constructs THE FORESHADOWING in this way, beginning with Chapter 101 and counting down to Chapter 1, where Alexandra's story ends, but not in the way readers might expect. Alexandra develops a feeling of kinship with mythical character Cassandra, who was doomed to foretell the future of the Trojan War, but was cursed to have no one believe her. Mythical overtones abound in Sedgwick's fascinating novel, which combines Alexandra's dreadful supernatural gift with the equally horrific realities of trench warfare. THE FORESHADOWING also combines historical accuracy with extraordinary suspense, and it raises profound questions about destiny, fate, and a young person's place in the world. --- Reviewed by Norah Piehl