“We’re sixteen,” she said. “Do you honestly think we’re ready for a ‘lifetime commitment?’”

Sixteen-year-old Saskia Brown is down and out. Her mother has cheated on her father with a substitute teacher from Saskia’s school. Now all her classmates know, and to make things worse, her parents are getting divorced. When her father suggests that he and Saskia move across the country—to the small town of Covington, Connecticut—she agrees. All she wants to do is leave her troubles behind.

But being the new kid in town isn’t easy. With her confidence at an all-time low, Saskia has trouble connecting with the other kids at school. She’d rather hide out at home and watch old movies. Fortunately, she makes one promising new buddy: plucky Lila Defensor who convinces her to give life in Covington a try.

Saskia and Lila soon form a strong bond. Lila even sneaks Saskia into her part-time place of work: a photography archive at a local college. There, Saskia sees a daguerreotype of Robert Cornelius, a little known American pioneer. Something about Cornelius’s image mesmerizes Saskia. She throws herself into learning more about him.

The night after Saskia handles Cornelius’s daguerreotype and a vial of liquid mercury from the archive’s photography development room, she has a dream about Cornelius. A shockingly realistic dream. She and a young Cornelius meet in a Philadelphia lighting store in the early 1800s. Though she knows it’s impossible, Saskia can’t shake the feeling that the meeting actually occurred. Determined to see Cornelius again, she convinces Lila to help her steal the daguerreotype and more liquid mercury. When she encounters Cornelius in another dream, Saskia realizes she’s either crazy or she’s stumbled upon a way to bridge the past and the present.

Cornelius, a chemist, tells her he’s not surprised by her discovery. He has worked with mercury extensively and has seen it produce unexplainable, even magical, results. “Throughout history,” he says, “man has believed mercury can do all kinds of things: cure yellow fever, conjure spells, enhance fertility, inspire enlightenment, guarantee immortality, and bring about alchemy.” Perhaps it can even be used for time travel.

By the last day of school, Saskia’s life has improved. She’s now close to two people: Cornelius and Lila. She’s even caught the attention of Paige Sampras, the most popular girl at Covington High. When Paige invites both Saskia and Lila to her house, Saskia thinks she may have found the circle of friends she’s always wanted.

Saskia opens up and tells the girls about her strange dreams. Impressed, they want the same experience—to connect with young men who are smarter and more mature than the boys at school. The three girls—plus Paige’s sister, Sara Beth, and Paige’s friend, Adrienne—sneak into the archive and pick daguerreotypes of young men they wish were still alive. Their own personal “forever boyfriends.”

The girls’ relationships with their mercury boys soon become serious, and also complicated. At the same time, the girls form a secret society: the Mercury Boys Club. Initiations take place. Strict rules are created. Punishments are enforced. As the summer heats up, the club begins to dominate the girls’ lives, leading to unexpected and terrifying consequences.

Threading their way through Mercury Boys are serious questions. Are the forever boyfriends real or a form of mental escapism? Is the Mercury Boys Club a place of true friendship or a dangerous crucible of female hysteria, sexuality, jealousy, and betrayal? Can visiting the past actually help the girls find a better future?

Suspenseful, absorbing, and historically evocative, Mercury Boys will resonate with readers who have ever visited the borderlands between right and wrong, past and present, real and imaginary.