When high schooler Saskia Brown plays around with a vial of liquid mercury, then touches a tattered old daguerreotype, she makes a startling discovery. She is somehow able to visit the man in the daguerreotype: Robert Cornelius, a brilliant young inventor from the nineteenth century. The hitch: she can see him only in her dreams.<\/p>\n
Saskia soon shares her revelation with some female classmates. Under Saskia\u2019s guidance, the other girls try the experiment for themselves. They steal portraits of young men from a local college\u2019s daguerreotype collection. Then, each of the girls tries to make contact with her own personal \u201cMercury Boy,\u201d from an injured Union soldier in the Civil War to a charming pickpocket in New York City.<\/p>\n
At night, the girls visit their \u201cforever boyfriends\u201d in their dreams. During the day, they hold clandestine meetings of their new secret society: the Mercury Boys Club. At first, the club is a thrilling diversion from the girls\u2019 troubled everyday lives. But all good things must come to an end, and it\u2019s not long before jealousy, violence, and lies threaten everything the girls hold dear.<\/p>\n
\u201cMercury Boys has daguerreotypes and dashing strangers, hiding spots and crossed lines. It’s full of secrets and fraught with danger. Ultimately, it’s like mercury itself\u2014mesmerizing, terrifying, thrilling, and dangerously beautiful. It’s pure alchemy.\u201d
\n\u2014Carrie Firestone, author of The Loose Ends List and The Unlikelies<\/p>\n
\u201cMercury Boys is a thrilling journey into the perils of adolescent friendship and a touching commentary on love’s timelessness.\u201d
\n\u2014Tochi Onyebuchi, author of Beasts Made of Night and Crown of Thunder<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this snapshot of modern teenage life with a historical twist, Prasad creates a world as haunting as a daguerreotype and as vivid as a high-resolution photo. An exhilarating and thought-provoking ride that will make you think twice next time you\u2019re thumbing through a photo album.\u201d
\n\u2014 Michael Belanger, author of The History of Jane Doe<\/p>\n
\u201cFor history buffs and hopeless romantics alike, Mercury Boys is a compelling, imaginative romp that will leave teen readers longing for an alternate reality\u2014and a Mercury Boy\u2014of their own.\u201d
\n\u2014Natasha Friend, author of How We Roll, Where You\u2019ll Find Me, Perfect, Lush, Bounce, For Keeps, My Life in Black and White, and The Other F-Word.<\/p>\n
“The concept of \u201cmean girl\u201d time travelers has enormous cinematic potential, particularly as it is tethered to the zeitgeist. In Mercury Boys Chandra Prasad shows her unique ability to give voice to the acute angst of today\u2019s adolescents, caught between the malaise of contemporary society and an inchoate yearning for the values and romance of the past.”
\n\u2014Amy Adelson, Motion Picture\/Television Producer, Above Suspicion and You Know My Name<\/p>\n<\/div>