Wild Talent tells the strange tale of Jeannie Guthrie, a sixteen-year-old Scottish farm worker, who possesses a frightening talent. Believing that she has unintentionally killed her ne'er-do-well cousin, and fearing that she will be sentenced as a witch, she flees to London. There, she is befriended by the free-spirited and adventurous Alexandra David, and introduced to Madame Helena Blavatsky's famous salon, where she begins to understand the source of her mysterious powers. We follow Jeannie and Alexandra as they venture from the late Victorian world of spiritualists and theosophists to the fin de siècle Paris of artists, anarchists and esoteric cults; and finally to the perilous country of the Beyond. It is against these eerie late 19th century backdrops that Kernaghan weaves an engrossing tale of myth and magic. The year is 1888. Jeannie Guthrie, a sixteen year old Scottish farmworker, must learn to deal with a dangerous talent. Believing that she has unintentionally killed her ne’er-do-well cousin, she flees to London, where she is befriended by the free-spirited and adventurous Alexandra David, and introduced to Madame Helena Blavatsky’s famous salon. Wild Talent follows Jeannie and Alexandra from the late Victorian world of spiritualists and theosophists; to the fin de siècle Paris of decadent artists, anarchists and esoteric cults; and finally to the perilous country of the Beyond *Shortlisted for the 2009 Sunburst Award for Literature of the Fantastic for Young Adult Literature Wild Talent is the strange tale of Jeannie Guthrie, a sixteen-year-old Scottish farm worker who possesses a frightening talent. Believing that she has unintentionally killed her ne'er-do-well cousin, her fear of being sentenced as a witch propels her to flee her home to London. There, Guthrie is befriended by the free-spirited and adventurous Alexandra David, and introduced to Madame Helena Blavatsky's famous salon where she begins to understand the source of her strange powers. The year is 1888. Jeannie Guthrie, a sixteen year old Scottish farmworker, is possessed of a mysteriouswild talent. Convinced that she has unintentionally killed her neer-do-well cousin George, Jeannie flees to the anonymity of London. There she is befriended by the free-spirited Alexandra David, and introduced to Madame Helena Blavatsky's famous salon. Drawn reluctantly into the world of the occult, and seemingly haunted by her cousin's vengeful ghost, Jeannie must learn to control her dangerous talent in order to survive
