Mercury

August 31, 5:15 PM, French Hill, Nova Scotia: A girl named Tara is running. She runs through her nice neighborhood and up a road to the burned ruins of what was once a beautiful house–her family’s house.

August 31, 1859, French Hill, Nova Scotia: A girl named Josey is picking blackberries with her friend Connie. As the girls gossip, a handsome stranger knocks on the door of Josey’s house. His name is Asa, and with his coming, Josey’s life–and later in time, Tara’s as well–is about to change forever.

Because there is treasure in the woods that belong to Josey’s family. Gold–an untold fortune. Asa has a secret way of finding it, and his partnership with Josey’s father could make them all rich. But there is darkness in the woods, and in Asa. And in the present day, Tara, Josey’s descendent, is about to discover the truth about what really happened in the family’s past.

Eisner award winner Hope Larson weaves together history, romance, and a touch of her trademark magical realism in this remarkable graphic novel of how the past haunts a teenage girl’s present.