For Darkness Shows the Stars
DIANA PETERFREUND
Dedication
For my mother, who loves Jane Austen as much as I do, And my daughter, who I hope someday will.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
PART I - The Unbroken Engine
Twelve Years Ago
One
Eleven Years Ago
Two
Nine Years Ago
Three
Four
Four Years Ago
Five
Six
Five Years Ago
Seven
Five Years Ago
Eight
Nine
Four Years Ago
Ten
Eight Years Ago
Eleven
Twelve
Four Years Ago
Thirteen
PART II - Icarus Also Flew
One Year Ago
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Four Years Ago
Seventeen
Eighteen
Eight Years Ago
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-one
Seven Years Ago
Twenty-two
Twenty-three
Five Years Ago
Twenty-four
Twenty-five
PART III - True North
Four Years Ago
Twenty-six
Twenty-seven
Ten Years Ago
Twenty-eight
Twenty-nine
Six Years Ago
Thirty
Thirty-one
Thirty-two
Six Years Ago
Thirty-three
Thirty-four
Thirty-five
Eight Years Ago
Thirty-six
Thirty-seven
Thirty-eight
Four Years Ago
Thirty-nine
Forty
Forty-one
Forty-two
Now
Forty-three
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Diana Peterfreund
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher
PART I
The Unbroken Engine
There could have been no two hearts so open, no tastes so similar, no feelings so in unison, no countenances so beloved. Now they were as strangers; nay, worse than strangers, for they could never become acquainted. It was a perpetual estrangement.
—JANE AUSTEN, PERSUASION
TWELVE YEARS AGO
Dear Kai,
My name is Elliot, and I am six years old and live in the big house. Everyone says your smarter than me but I know I am the smartest. I bet you can’t even read this letter.
Your friend,
Elliot North
Dear Elliot,
I can so read and write. I red your letter and your not so smart. Your just ritch rich. You get tutors in the big house. My da teaches me to read after we work for your da all day long. So I can read and I can fix a tractor too. I bet you can’t.
Your friend,
Kai
Dear Kai,
You are very nice. Thank you for teaching me how to change the tractor tire today. It was realy fun, but my mother got mad about the mud on my dress. Don’t wory I didn’t tell her. I hope you like this book.
It is one of my favorites.
Your friend (now I feel like I really mean it!),
Elliot
Dear Elliot,
Thank you for the book. Your right, it’s really good. My favorite part was the story about Jason and his adentures adventures on the ship. I would like to be an Argonaut. Or even Jason. Do you know they used to build ships like that right here?
Your friend,
Kai
P. S. If you want to come back to the barn, I will show you more about the tractor.
Dear Kai,
Yes, I know about the ships. That was my granfather who did that, when he was younger. They call him the Boatwright, but his name is Elliot too, just like me, and my mother says he was the smartest man on the whole island. But he’s been sick for a long time.
I have bad news. My sister Tatiana told on me about the tractor, and now my father says you can’t come to the big house. So from now on, if you want to rite write me a letter then fold it up and put it in the knot in the board write next to the barn door. I’ll come by and get it.
