Deborah Noyes

An Outbreak of Witchcraft

A gripping tale of paranoia at its worst, An Outbreak of Witchcraft visually imagines the haunting details behind the Salem witch trials in this bewitching narrative nonfiction graphic novel.

From 1692 to 1693, fear reigned in the small village of Salem, Massachusetts. The night Abigail Williams and Betty Paris first accused their servant of witchcraft was only the beginning.

Several more accusations would follow suit, sparking a widespread panic that consumed Salem in one of the longest cases of witch trials in America, where more than twenty innocent lives were lost, and mistrust ran amok.

The community was in ruins, from the afflicted who fanned the flames of superstition to the judges who used their power unjustly to the accused who were falsely charged and hanged in consequence. With no due process and hysteria abounding, no one in Salem was safe.

Journey into how it all began in this arresting, true-to-life look at how lies became facts, friends turned to foes, and loved ones turned to enemies.

Publisher

LB Ink / Hachette

Publication Date

June 4, 2024

Age Category

Young Adult

Genre

Nonfiction

Rights

Hachette

Lady Icarus: Balloonmania and the Brief, Bold Life of Sophie Blanchard

A riveting middle-grade biography about Sophie Blanchard, the first woman to work as a professional aeronaut in France in the late 1700s, set against the thrilling backdrop of early flight.

Before Amelia Earhart, there was Sophie Blanchard, the first woman to earn her living in the air. While no one knows the fate of Earhart, a terrified crowd of thousands looked on as French aeronaut Sophie Blanchard met her end in a tragic blaze of glory over the streets of Paris in 1819.

But first, Blanchard made nearly 70 spectacular flights, survived a revolution, and become a court favorite of the emperor Napoleon (who gave her the title, “Aeronaut of the Official Festivals”) and later of the King of France. Set against the backdrop of the history of flight, watch as Balloonmania– a phenomenon that riveted all of Europe– took hold and inspired a great many artists authors, and dreamers.

This lively scrapbook-style biography with more than fifty black-and-white photos throughout, introduces a frightened, nervous girl who became a fearless legend in the skies.

Noyes adopts a dramatic tone to relay a well-rounded portrayal of one of the earliest female fliers, against the absorbing, painstakingly sketched background of the period’s balloonmania.

Praise for Lady Icarus

“Noyes adopts a dramatic tone to relay a well-rounded portrayal of one of the earliest female fliers, against the absorbing, painstakingly sketched background of the period’s balloonmania.” –Publishers Weekly

“[I]n this incredibly rich history, full of illuminating antique illustrations and entertaining tidbits, the author’s affection for the subject is obvious.” –Booklist

“[A] lively and thoughtful overview of the birth of hot air and hydrogen ballooning….”–BCCB

Publisher

Random House Studio

Publication Date

March 8, 2022

Age Category

Middle Grade

Genre

Nonfiction

Rights

Random House

A Hopeful Heart: Louisa May Alcott Before Little Women

Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. How did these cherished characters come to be? Louisa May Alcott, the author of one of the most famous “girl” books of all time, was anything but a well-mannered young lady. A tomboy as well as a ravenous reader, Louisa took comfort in fictional characters that were as passionate and willful as she was—and whose wild imaginations were a match for her own. She was often found roaming the woods near her home in Concord, Massachusetts, or exploring the natural world in the company of the great Transcendentalist thinkers Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Here is a beautiful portrait of Louisa May Alcott, a woman influenced by her father, a penniless philosopher, her mother, with whom she shared a great connection, and, of course, her three sisters. Featuring unique indigo illustrations, Deborah Noyes unveils how Louisa’s natural spirit, loving family, and unconventional circumstances inspired the timeless masterpiece that is Little Women.

Praise for A Hopeful Heart

“A brisk, sparkling and insightful biography that sheds light on an enduring masterpiece and its bold, headstrong creator.” –Candace Fleming, Sibert Honor Award-winning author of The Family Romanov

“With renewed interest in Little Women, following Greta Gerwig’s film adaptation, this biography of Louisa May Alcott will satisfy readers curious to know more about the inspiration for the writer’s semi-autobiographical classic.” –Booklist

“This book will appeal to any reader familiar with Little Women; the text shares insight into the family dynamics, misadventures, and love interests that found their way into the novel. Readers with a strong background in American literature will fully appreciate the notable friendships of the Alcott family, which included prominent American writers and philosophers. VERDICT A valuable addition to biography collections, especially where author studies are in demand.” –School Library Journal

Publisher

Schwartz & Wade

Publication Date

October 6, 2020

Age Category

Middle Grade

Genre

Nonfiction/Biography

Rights

Penguin Random House

We Are All His Creatures

In a series of interwoven fictionalized stories, Deborah Noyes gives voice to the marginalized women in P. T. Barnum’s family — and the talented entertainers he built his entertainment empire on.

Much has been written about P. T. Barnum — legendary showman, entrepreneur, marketing genius, and one of the most famous nineteenth-century personalities. For those who lived in Barnum’s shadow, however, life was complex. P. T. Barnum’s two families — his family at home, including his two wives and his daughters, and his family at work, including Little People, a giantess, an opera singer, and many sideshow entertainers — suffered greatly from his cruelty and exploitation. Yet, at the same time, some of his performers, such as General Tom Thumb (Charles Stratton), became wealthy celebrities who were admired and feted by presidents and royalty. In this collection of interlinked stories illustrated with archival photographs, Deborah Noyes digs deep into what is known about the people in Barnum’s orbit and imagines their personal lives, putting front and center the complicated joy and pain of what it meant to be one of Barnum’s “creatures.”

Praise for We Are All His Creatures

“[These] stories vividly engage with their period images (“her knuckles… were the color of new cream”), providing a picture of what life with Barnum might have been like: ‘We are all his creatures.'” –Publishers Weekly

Publisher

Candlewick

Publication Date

March 10, 2020

Age Category

Young Adult

Genre

Short Fiction

Rights

Candlewick

Tooth & Claw: The Dinosaur Wars

Today we take for granted the idea that dinosaurs once roamed the earth. But two hundred years ago, the very concept of an extinct species did not exist. When an English scientist proposed in 1841 that Dino Saurs (“terrible lizards”) had come and gone, it was only a theory, a new way of explaining the “dragon” and “giant” bones scattered across the globe. But when proof turned up seventeen years later, it was not only incontrovertible; it was massive.

Tooth and Claw tells the story of the feverish race between two brilliant, driven, and insanely competitive scientists—Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh—to uncover more and more monstrous fossils in the newly opened Wild West. Between them, they discovered dozens of major dinosaur species and established the new discipline of paleontology in America. But their bitter thirty-year rivalry—a “war” waged on wild plains and mountains, in tabloid newsprint, and in Congress—dramatically wrecked their professional and private lives even as it brought alive for the public a vanished prehistoric world.

Praise for Tooth and Claw

“An exciting retelling of the passionate rivalry between two researchers, and the dinosaurs that ignited their intellectual labors and fueled their conflict. Recommended for middle and high school nonfiction collections.” –School Library Journal

Publisher

Viking Books for Young Readers

Publication Date

April 30, 2019

Age Category

Middle Grade

Genre

Nonfiction/History

Rights

JGLM

The Magician and the Spirits: Harry Houdini and the Curious Pastime of Communicating with the Dead

A century ago, the curious idea that spirits not only survive death but can be contacted on the “other side” was widespread. Psychic mediums led countless séances, claiming to connect the grieving with their lost relations through everything from frenzied trance writing to sticky expulsions of ectoplasm.

The craze caught Harry Houdini’s attention. Well-known by then as most renowned magician and escape artist, he began to investigate these spiritual phenomena. Are ghosts real? Can we communicate with them? Catch them in photographs? Or are all mediums “flim-flammers,” employing tricks and illusions like Houdini himself?

Peopled with odd and fascinating characters, Houdini’s gripping quest will excite readers’ universal wonderment with life, death, and the possibility of the Beyond.

Praise for The Magician and the Spirits

“Fans of magic, mystery, and debates on the supernatural will devour Noyes’s take on Houdini.” –School Library Journal, starred review

“Compelling . . . Whether or not young readers are intrigued by ghosts or magic tricks, Noyes’s book treats them to colorful lessons in history, theatrics—and skepticism.” –The Washington Post

“A compelling true story of magic, ghosts, science, friendship, deception, feuding, and sleuthing told with great flair.” –Kirkus

Publisher

Viking Books for Young Readers

Publication Date

August 22, 2017

Age Category

Middle Grade

Genre

Nonfiction/History

Rights

JGLM

Ten Days a Madwoman: The Daring Life and Turbulent Times of the Original "Girl" Reporter, Nellie Bly

Work for a New York newspaper
Fall in love
Marry a millionaire
Change the world

Young Nellie Bly had ambitious goals, especially for a woman at the end of the nineteenth century, when the few female journalists were relegated to writing columns about cleaning or fashion. But fresh off a train from Pittsburgh, Nellie knew she was destined for more and pulled a major journalistic stunt that skyrocketed her to fame: feigning insanity, being committed to the notorious asylum on Blackwell’s Island, and writing a shocking exposé of the clinic’s horrific treatment of its patients.

Nellie Bly became a household name as the world followed her enthralling career in “stunt” journalism that raised awareness of political corruption, poverty, and abuses of human rights. Leading an uncommonly full life, Nellie circled the globe in a record seventy-two days and brought home a pet monkey before marrying an aged millionaire and running his company after his death.

With its sensational (and true!) plot, Ten Days a Madwoman dares its readers to live as boldly as its remarkable heroine.

Praise for Ten Days a Madwoman

“Noyes makes history accessible and irresistible in this thrilling account of women’s lives, flagrant abuse, scandal, courage, and tenacity. . . Excellent.” –School Library Journal, starred review

“A lively biography that reflects the spirit of the intrepid reporter.” –Kirkus

“Noyes’s thoroughly researched account, with archival photos and myriad quotes from Bly’s own work, offers a well-rounded look at a self-possessed women who was nothing if not resilient.” –Publishers Weekly

Publisher

Viking Books for Young Readers

Publication Date

February 23, 2016

Age Category

Middle Grade

Genre

Nonfiction/History

Rights

JGLM

Plague in the Mirror

It was meant to be a diversion — a summer in Florence with her best friend, Liam, and his travel-writer mom, doing historical research between breaks for gelato. A chance to forget that back in Vermont, May’s parents, and all semblance of safety, were breaking up. But when May wakes one night sensing someone in her room, only to find her ghostly twin staring back at her, normalcy becomes a distant memory. And when later she follows the menacing Cristofana through a portale to fourteenth-century Florence, May never expects to find safety in the eyes of Marco, a soulful painter who awakens in her a burning desire and makes her feel truly seen. The wily Cristofana wants nothing less of May than to inhabit each other’s lives, but with the Black Death ravaging Old Florence, can May’s longing for Marco’s touch be anything but madness? Lush with atmosphere both passionate and eerie, this evocative tale follows a girl on the brink of womanhood as she dares to transcend the familiar — and discovers her sensual power.

Praise for Plague in the Mirror

“Give this combination of historical fiction, horror, and paranormal romance (Candlewick, 2013) to girls who enjoyed Jennifer Donnelly’s Revolution (Delacorte, 2010).” –School Library Journal

Publisher

Candlewick

Publication Date

June 11, 2013

Age Category

Young Adult

Genre

Historical Fantasy

Rights

JGLM

Captivity

This masterful historical novel by Deborah Noyes is two stories:

The first centers upon the strange, true tale of the Fox Sisters, the enigmatic family of young women who, in upstate New York in 1848, proclaimed that they could converse with the dead. Doing so, they unwittingly (but artfully) gave birth to a religious movement that touched two continents: the American Spiritualists.

The second story in Captivity is about loss and grief. It is the evocative tale of the bright promise that the Fox Sisters offer up to the skeptical Clara Gill, a reclusive woman of a certain age who long ago isolated herself with her paintings, following the scandalous loss of her beautiful young lover in London.

Lyrical and authentic—and more than a bit shadowy—Captivity is, finally, a tale about physical desire and the hope that even the thinnest faith can offer up to a darkening heart.

Praise for Captivity

“Told in a haunting, multi-narrative voice style, Captivity is a phenomenal, literate read packed with mystery, suspense, compassion, intrigue and fear threading stories within stories of this brilliant novel—indeed of those revolutionary times.” –Historical Novels Review

Publisher

Candlewick

Publication Date

July 6, 2010

Age Category

Adult

Genre

Historical Fiction

Rights

JGLM

Sideshow: Ten Original Tales of Freaks, Illusionists and Other Matters Odd and Magical

Freaks, magicians, psychics, and the passing strange take center stage in ten original tales by top YA authors and graphic novelists.

Molly is a bearded girl who joins the circus, only to find that her former tormentor faces a far hairier plight. Tia claims that her lamented mom is a three-thousand-year-old mummy, but is it really an act? Cody sets out to foil a pop psychic, but the shocking result is not what he planned for. And Tiffany’s grandma sees something wild in her future, but is the girl prepared for the powerful shape it will take? Whether the sideshow touts a two-headed rat or a turn-of-the-century American jargo, whether the subject discovers an odd kind of miracle or learns that the real freaks are outside the tent, these stories and graphic tales are by turns humorous and insightful, edgy and eerie, but always compulsively entertaining.

Praise for Sideshow

“Suspending disbelief, readers of this fantastic anthology may start investing in psychics and sleeping with the light on.” –School Library Journal

Publisher

Candlewick

Publication Date

July 14, 2009

Age Category

Young Adult

Genre

Short Fiction

Rights

Candlewick

Encyclopedia of the End: Mysterious Death in Fact, Fancy, Folklore, and More

How much do we truly know and understand about our own mortality? Enter Encyclopedia of the End, a compulsively readable and beautifully illustrated compendium that explores this most taboo of topics. Entries present a kaleidoscopic mix of topics from afterlife to assassination, forensic science to funeral foods, rigor mortis to reincarnation and more. With an appreciation for the profound and profane, Deborah Noyes helps lift the shroud of secrecy surrounding one of the most fascinating—and ordinary—phenomena of life.
After all, who says that a book about death can’t be lively?

Praise for Encyclopedia of the End

“This stylish A-to-Z encounter with all things related to death and dying shows Noyes (The Ghosts of Kerfol; Red Butterfly), a Candlewick editor, at her liveliest, starting with the quotations from the infamous deceased which appear on the endpapers. Addressing topics as far-ranging as Genocide, Goth (as in goth fashion) and Spirit Photography (she traces its origins to an 1861 Boston jewelry engraver turned fraudulent medium), the author offers a broad illumination of spiritual, historical and biological aspects of death. Photos, paintings and engravings in homage to the end make the book dynamic visually, too. Readers will be struck by the breadth of information provided in a single entry, as well as by the way the entries speak to one another, forming a cohesive whole. But what may please readers the most is Noyes’s welcome neutrality: the only agenda here is in the service of knowledge.” –Publishers Weekly, starred review

“The book is both comprehensive and compulsively readable, and even the most reluctant readers will find themselves caught up in the vivid descriptions and colorful photos and reproductions. A visually pleasing and attention-grabbing offering.” –School Library Journal

Publisher

HMH Books for Young Readers

Publication Date

December 15, 2008

Age Category

Young Adult

Genre

Nonfiction

Rights

HMH

The Restless Dead: Ten Original Stories of the Supernatural

Ten extraordinary authors spin hair-raising original tales collected by the anthologist of Gothic!

With scary stories by: M. T. Anderson, Holly Black, Libba Bray, Herbie Brennan, Nancy Etchemendy, Annette Curtis Klause, Kelly Link, Deborah Noyes, Marcus Sedgwick, and Chris Wooding

Enter the murky world of the undead. From a beyond-the-grave stalker to prankster devil worshippers, from a childish ghost of the future to a vampire lover with bloody ties to the past, the characters in these ten original stories will send shivers down your spine. Why do we fear the undead? Find out in this spooky companion volume to Gothic! Ten Original Dark Tales, and enjoy another graveyard walk in the company of ten contemporary masters of horror and suspense.

Praise for The Restless Dead

“The creepy cover, depicting a black-and-white photo of hands crawling out of the earth, and the evocative title aptly describe the contents and will deter the faint of heart, who probably aren’t the best audience for many of these seriously scary tales. Highly recommended, and not just for reluctant readers.” –Booklist, starred review

Publisher

Candlewick

Publication Date

July 10, 2007

Age Category

Young Adult

Genre

Short Fiction

Rights

Candlewick

When I Met the Wolf Girls

Two little girls—raised by wolves—have just arrived at the orphanage, and life will never be the same.

Based on a true story, this book is about many things at once: family, friendship, and what it means to have a home.

Praise for When I Met the Wolf Girls

“The story will spark the most interest in older children, who will want more facts about the real girls and how they lived with their wolf mother in the jungle.” –Booklist

“The story subtly explores the tension between those who would allow the jungle to exist on its own terms and those who would eliminate it, with men ‘ripping down trees for miles.'” –School Library Journal

Publisher

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Publication Date

May 14, 2007

Age Category

Picture Book

Genre

History

Rights

HMH

Angel and Apostle

At the end of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic novel, The Scarlet Letter, we know that Pearl, the elf-child daughter of Hester Prynne, is somewhere in Europe, comfortable, well set, a mother herself now. But it could not have been easy for her to arrive at such a place, when she begins life as the bastard child of a woman publicly humiliated, again and again, in an unrelentingly judgmental Puritan world.

With a brilliant and authentic sense of that time and place, Deborah Noyes envisions the path Pearl takes to make herself whole and to carve her place in the New World. Beautifully written with boundless compassion, Angel and Apostle is a heart-rending and imaginative debut in which Noyes masterfully makes Hawthorne’s character her own.

Praise for Angel and Apostle

“Noyes engages with atmospheric charms of time and place, and though the major turns of the novel are predictable, she delivers an ending revelation that would surprise Hawthorne himself.” –Publishers Weekly

“Noyes does a remarkable job of capturing Puritan New England and the spirit and willfulness of Pearl, who is a compelling, sympathetic character in her own right.” –Booklist

Publisher

Unbridled Books

Publication Date

October 1, 2006

Age Category

Adult

Genre

Historical Fiction

Rights

JGLM

The Ghosts of Kerfol

In her 1916 ghost story, Kerfol, Edith Wharton tells of Anne de Barrigan, a young woman convicted of murdering her jealous husband. The elderly lord was found on the stairs, apparently savaged by a pack of dogs, though there were no dogs —no live dogs—at Kerfol that day. In these remarkable intertwining stories, Deborah Noyes returns to the manor to tell de Barrigan’s story through the sympathetic eyes of her servant girl. Four more tales slip forward in time, following characters haunted by the ghosts of Kerfol—the dead dogs; the sensual, uneasy relationships; and the bitter taste of revenge.

Praise for The Ghosts of Kerfol

“Noyes’ talent as an editor of creepy ghost stories is evident in her anthologies, Gothic! (2004) and The Restless Dead (2007). This brilliant collection is comprised of her own original tales, which are all based on Edith Wharton’s 1916 story, ‘Kerfol.'” –Booklist

“The first story is the longest and most difficult and may be a hard sell for less-sophisticated readers. If they can hang in, however, they will be rewarded with some great gooseflesh and an exciting read.” –School Library Journal

Publisher

Candlewick

Publication Date

August 26, 2006

Age Category

Young Adult

Genre

Short Fiction/Historical

Rights

JGLM

One Kingdom: Our Lives With Animals: The Human-Animal Bond in Myth, History, Science, and Story

In ancient Egypt people worshiped cats, and in India the cow is sacred. Today in America we flock to zoos in record numbers and pamper our pets. But what do we really know about animals? And what do we feel about them in spite of it? Walking a mile in their paws, feathers, or fur is harder than it seems.

Here Deborah Noyes embarks on a quest for understanding, struggling with science and love, attempting to distance, but also bring closer, the other kingdom. What results is a visionary meditation on how myth, history, and culture have influenced our view of animals and shaped our lives with them. Smart and unsentimental, Noyes’s wide-ranging narrative and affectionate portraits raise difficult but important questions, challenging what we think we know about our animal fellows while helping us form new perceptions and realities. We are all—bird, beast, and boy—made of blood, bone, and beating heart. Where do they end and we begin?

Praise for One Kingdom

“In this insightful, provocative photo-essay, Noyes examines the ways that human lives have overlapped with animals and how our beliefs, culture, and science have been impacted throughout history by the essential but frequently paradoxical human-animal connection.” –Booklist

Publisher

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Publication Date

August 7, 2006

Age Category

Middle Grade

Genre

Nonfiction/Science & Nature

Rights

JGLM

Gothic!: Ten Original Dark Tales

A lovesick count and the ghost of his brutalized servant…a serial killer who defies death…a house with a violent mind of its own and another that holds a grotesque secret within its peeling walls. Here are witches who feast on faces, changeling rites of passage, a venerable vampire contemplating his end, and a fanged brat who drains the patience of a bumbling teenage boy. Here too are a flamboyant young novelist in search of a subject more compelling than his own eerie existence and the daughter of a sorcerer fighting to free her lover — and her will — from sinister bonds. Enter the world of Gothic!, a celebration of the literary form made famous by such writers as Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe.

With chilling stories by:
Joan Aiken
M. T. Anderson
Neil Gaiman
Caitlín R. Kiernan
Gregory Maguire
Garth Nix
Celia Rees
Janni Lee Simner
Vivian Vande Velde
Barry Yourgrau

Praise for Gothic!

“Ideal for high-school literature classes studying Shelley or Stoker (Gaiman’s smirking contribution, which toys with genre definitions, would work particularly well in the classroom), this collection also provides an excellent opportunity to introduce fans of Koontz, Rice, and King to some of the most imaginative exponents of YA dark fantasy.” –Booklist, starred review

“Noyes’s insightful introduction defines what a gothic tale is and includes information about the authors and the origins of their stories. A sophisticated, thought-provoking, and gripping read.” –School Library Journal

Publisher

Candlewick

Publication Date

August 3, 2004

Age Category

Young Adult

Genre

Short Fiction

Rights

Candlewick

Agent

An Outbreak of Witchcraft

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Lady Icarus: Balloonmania and the Brief, Bold Life of Sophie Blanchard

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A Hopeful Heart: Louisa May Alcott Before Little Women

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We Are All His Creatures

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Tooth & Claw: The Dinosaur Wars

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The Magician and the Spirits: Harry Houdini and the Curious Pastime of Communicating with the Dead

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Ten Days a Madwoman: The Daring Life and Turbulent Times of the Original "Girl" Reporter, Nellie Bly

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Plague in the Mirror

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Captivity

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Sideshow: Ten Original Tales of Freaks, Illusionists and Other Matters Odd and Magical

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Encyclopedia of the End: Mysterious Death in Fact, Fancy, Folklore, and More

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The Restless Dead: Ten Original Stories of the Supernatural

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When I Met the Wolf Girls

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