THINGS INVISIBLE TO SEE

A love story interrupted by war, this is also a novel about discovering the ordinary in the extraordinary and finding the miraculous in everyday life.

Ben and Willie Harkissian are twin brothers (think Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau) growing up in Ann Arbor, Michigan on the eve of World War II. A baseball launched into the October sky sets in motion a series of events that transforms many lives. Ben leaves for the front and faces death—not just figuratively, but literally. Left behind is Clare Bishop, who has been paralyzed from the waist down. But in exchange she receives a very special gift. She can see the future, be at one with animals, and chat with Death. Willie Harkissian remains in Michigan as well, though his relationship with his brother will never be the same. NANCY WILLARD is an award-winning children's book author, poet, novelist, and essayist. In 1982, she won the Newbery Medal for A Visit to William Blake's Inn. She is the author of two novels, Things Invisible to See and Sister Water, along with twelve books of poetry. Willard has also written dozens of volumes of children's fiction and poetry, including The Flying Bed, Sweep Dreams, and Cinderella's Dress. She teaches in the English department at Vassar College. Originally published by Knopf in 1984