Burning Issy

by Melvin Burgess

Issy doesn’t know where she came from or who she is. Night after night, she has the same nightmare: she burns in a fire and at the heart of the flames is a face she dare not look at. Fear and superstition are everywhere. She must run from the Witch-finder, from the evil hag who wants her, from those she loves and maybe even from her own true nature.

Genres: Historical, Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Young Adult, Middle Grade

193 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Melvin Burgess is a British author of children's fiction. His first book, The Cry of the Wolf, was published in 1990. He gained a certain amount of notoriety in 1996 with the publication of Junk, which was published in the shadow of the film of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting, and dealt with the trendy and controversial idea of heroin-addicted teenagers. Junk soon became, at least in Britain, one of the best-known children's books of the decade.

Burgess again courted predictable controversy in 2003, with the publication of Doing It, which dealt with underage sex. America created a show based on the book, Life As We Know It. In his other books, such as Bloodtide and The Ghost Behind the Wall, Burgess has dealt with less realist and sometimes fantastic themes. In 2001 Burgess wrote the novelisation of the film Billy Elliot, based on Lee Hall's screenplay. Polyphony is typical for his most famous novels.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/melvin...

Reviews

[Dorian Jandreau · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a huge fan of Melvin Burgess I was very happy to get another book to read. It was an incredible story of a witch. In some parts it made me cry and made me scared. This book was full of fire. A lot of about this fire. I'm myself also terrified of fire, so reading this book made me scared and really touched my soul. It touched me personally.
I believe it's one of my favorite books now. Touching story. You must be heartless if such story doesn't give you any feelings.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating: 2 stars

Plot: 1,5
Characters: 2
Writing style: 2,5

"Burning Issy" by Melvin Burgess - is a story set during 1600's about a young orphan girl that thinks she might be a witch. It's imaginative and quite dark. I really enjoyed the first half, it was very intriguing, but later on it just got aimless.

[LTU]
Įvertinimas: 2 žvaigždutės

Siužetas: 1,5
Veikėjai: 2
Rašymo stilius: 2,5

Melvin Burgess "Liepsnojanti Iza" - tai vaizdinga ir tamsi istorija apie jauną našlaitę, gyvenančią 1600-aisiais, kuri mano, jog gali būti ragana. Patiko pirma knygos pusė, labai suintrigavo, bet vėliau istorija pasidarė betikslė.

[Julia · Rating 1 out of 5]

1,5 Sterne
Aus eigenem Interesse hätte ich dieses Buch wahrscheinlich nicht angefangen. Dennoch schätze ich Empfehlungen meiner Freunde sehr, vor allem wenn die Bücher mich aus meiner Komfort-Zone locken. In diesem Fall ist es aber eher bedauerlich, da mich die Geschichte von Issy nicht beeindrucken konnte. Mir hat eine persönliche Verbindung zu den Charakteren gefehlt, weswegen ich auch nicht sonderlich viel Interesse an der Handlung hatte.

[Dannielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dannielle Nebinski (Burning Issy)
Genre: Historical Fiction


Twelve year old Issy is an orphan who lives with her foster father Nat. Issy takes care of his house while he works as a herbalist and healer. When the King fears his life is being plotted against, he unleashes witch hunts over all his country. Now Issy must try to discover where it is that she came from, as she is plagued night after night by the same nightmare in which she is burning in a fire and within that fire she sees a face she does not want to look at. With fear and superstition everywhere, Issy must run from the witch finder, and from those she loves, and quite possibly from the true nature of her own self.
Burgess has done a spectacular job of painting a vivid picture within the stories pages. While not every teen may enjoy Burning Issy, those who enjoy darkness and the intrigue of it, will surely enjoy this book.

[Tú · Rating 2 out of 5]

the preface seems to promise to deliver a piece of history, the social theme that it raises seems not merely suppositious, and yet it turns out to be a heap of fantasies on witchcraft. Beautiful imagination but somewhat pointless. Guess it's partly because i have never been a fan of Sabrina or Practical Magic!

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have liked this a bit better if the supernatural had not been thrown in, if it had been a straight historical novel.

[Liaken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has a lot of good to offer, but gets too caught up in itself to finish the story well.

[Sharon Skinner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is really my kind of book. At first I thought the voice seemed too old for the protagonist, but I quickly left that behind as I got caught up in Issy's story. Good pacing and an excellent story.

[Alatea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and nice, perfect for Halloween weekend.

[Verčiant Puslapius | Ina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Viskas prasidėjo, kai į neturtingo našlio rankas nepažįstamoji įbruko apdegusį ryšulį ir pabėgo.
O ryšulyje, pasirodo buvo mažutė mergaitė, dar visai kūdikis. Niekas nežinojo nei kas ji, nei kur jos šeima, tačiau Natas priima ją ir augina kaip savo dukrą.

Mergaitė nieko nežino apie savo praeitį ir tai varo ją į neviltį. Izabelę kankina baisūs košmarai, kurių reikšmės ji nesupranta. Mergaitė paniškai bijo ugnies ir žino, kad už to slypi svarbi jos gyvenimo dalis.

Paaiškėja, kad Iza nėra paprastas vaikas. Ji turi kerėjimo galių. Po kaimelį ima sklisti gandai, kad Iza yra ragana ir tuomet jai iškyla tikras pavojus...

🔸🔸🔸

Negaliu pasakyti, kad ši knyga mane labai nustebino ar paliko didelį įspūdį. Tikrai ne. Sakyčiau, galbūt ji labiau tinka skaityti ankstyvo amžiaus paaugliams, vyresnio amžiaus vaikams, kaip nuotykių knyga.

Pats pasakojimas sudomino, tikrai buvo labai įdomu kaip viskas pasisuks, kaip pasibaigs. Tačiau bendroje visumoje kažko pritrūko.

Nelabai supratau pagrindinės minties, kulminacija nebuvo labai ryški, o pabaiga paliko daug klaustukų.

Nors ir knyga paliečia ne vieną temą. Ypatingai savęs ieškojimo ir atradimo, tikrojo savęs pripažinimo, pasitikėjimo kitais, bandymo atskirti blogį nuo gėrio. Tačiau nei viena tema nebuvo iki galo išplėtota. Norėjosi daugiau...

Tad skaitinys tikrai nebuvo blogas, bet ne man skirtas...

[Robert Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book to show us the cruelty and kindness of man. Oh, and the cruelty of some so-called Christians during the witch hunts. People are such strange things.

Issy is an interesting character. Up until the Christians took against those of other beliefs, people like Issy and the people in this book lived, for the most part, good and productive lives. Of course there were exceptions, same as in any group of people, but they mostly just stuck to their old traditions and got on with life.

I kind of despair at people who persecute and hate. There's a lot of that happening in this book. Makes me sigh to think that this might all have happened in real life. People!

Read this if you like a quick read about the persecution of witches and the inhumanity of humanity to humanity. It's not as dark as it sounds (bit it is).

[Charlotte Render · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would as it's not my usual type of book, this has more of a historical fiction to it which isn't my type, but I do love witchy books and I also loved this writing. For me Melvin Burgess is a new author so I'm quite excited to read his newest book also about witches (the lost witch) I know he isn't a new author but as I don't typically read paranormal type books it was a pleasant surprise. Also meeting the author behind the books helps a lot too!

[Bel Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

The version of witchcraft in this book was deeply intriguing.
I really enjoyed this book, there was something very different about it. It was unconventional in all ways, and I really liked the open-to-interpretation ending.

[Rebecca parsloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good

[Veronica · Rating 4 out of 5]

L'ho letto che avevo non più di 7 anni, non ricordo la trama, ma per decenni l'ho cercato perché mi aveva così colpito che volevo assolutamente rileggerlo.

[Gail Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An imaginative tale from the point of view of a young girl struggling with the idea that she might be a witch during the witch hunts in Pendle. This book cleverly puts across the horror, uncertainty and fear of the time without being overly explicit. it is all implied meaning that the reader will experience it all on their own level. very clever. i also never doubted that i was following the thoughts of a twelve year old girl, the narrative was consistent with no slips. That indicates skill on the part of the writer.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Burning Issy was a very good book it kept me wanting to know what more this girl was going to have to go through in order to discover her past. However, the author leaves us wondering what happens to Issy because the book just ends with the unknowingness of what lies ahead for her. I gave four stars because it was a good book. I am glad my eleven year old asked it I wanted to read it.

[Sally · Rating 2 out of 5]

The 1600's were not a good time to know one herb from another, or what to do with it. This book conveys very well the fear that people were inspired to feel for witches, and the fear of the witches themselves for the God squad, who would elicit confessions from the most innocent. All in all not a bad book, apart from the end which was utterly lame.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro terribile che ti trasporta in un epoca in cui tutto doveva essere "purificato" e tutto nascondeva una colpa. Ritratto di anni terribili per persone innocenti. Vale la pena leggerlo.

Un bellissimo libro.

[Evelina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Visiškai ne mano tipo knyga. Istorija pasirodė beprasmė ir neįdomi. Galima kažką išpešti iš pagrindinės veikėjos atsidavimo ir ištikimybės šeimai, bet, tiesą sakant, man buvo nuobodu šitą knygą skaityti, tai ir tas pliusiukas toks menkutis.

[Nocturna Syn]

Im Bann der Hexenkr

[Vanlilith · Rating 5 out of 5]

-

[Emma Drakes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading it at the time, have completely forgotten why several months on. I'm sure that's more a testament to my memory rather than the book itself.

[Greta · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't read many Melvin Burgess books but i can say that this writer has his own style and you can feel it. I'm giving 4 stars for this book because of the end. As for me, it could be more clear.

[K.A. Cross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it !!!

[Sofia Fresia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Storia di una ragazza accusata di stregoneria nell'Inghilterra del 1600. Avevo grandi aspettative su questo libro, che sono purtroppo state deluse.

[Rachel Cross · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really good short read, twists and turns. Offers an insight into Wicca vs Witchcraft.