Hush, Hush

Hush, Hush

Front cover of Hush, Hush
Author Becca Fitzpatrick
Cover artist Lucy Ruth Cummins (design)
James Porto (photograph)
Country United States
Language English, spanish, estonian
Series Hush, Hush
Genre Young adult, Fantasy, Romance
Publisher Simon & Schuster
Publication date
 October 13, 2009
Media type Print (Hardcover)
e-Book (Kindle)
Audio Book (CD)
Pages 391
ISBN ISBN 978-1-4169-8941-7
Followed by Crescendo (2010)

Hush, Hush is a 2009 New York Times Bestselling young adult fantasy novel by Becca Fitzpatrick and the first book in her Hush, Hush series. The novel was first published on October 13, 2009 through Simon & Schuster and focuses on the character of Nora Grey, a teenager that has her life put at risk after she begins a romance with new student Patch, a fallen angel with a dark connection to Nora.

Book rights to Hush, Hush have been sold to over 13 countries, with LD Entertainment purchasing film rights.[1]

Plot

Nora Grey is an average sophomore student living in Coldwater, Maine. Her life is largely uneventful until she is seated next to a mysterious senior named Patch Cipriano in biology class, who has currently failed biology several times before . The two are initially at odds with one another, but Nora finds herself inexplicably drawn to him. Nora finds his behavior both attracting and sometimes repelling. Despite the strong pull she feels towards him, Nora continues to tell her best friend Vee that she’s not interested in Patch.

Vee later invites Nora to local amusement park, Delphic, in an attempt to set up her up with Elliot, a boy that has expressed an attraction to Nora. The trip turns awkward when the group runs into Patch, who makes Elliot jealous. Nora confronts Patch and he persuades Nora to meet him in front of the newly reformed roller coaster, the Archangel. Nora later makes an excuse to find food and drink, and sets off to find Patch.

After she finds Patch, he manages to persuade her to ride the Archangel. The ride turns into a disaster after Nora falls from the roller coaster, only to realize it was her imagination. The rides leaves her shaken up.

When Nora is unable to locate Vee and the others at the amusement park, she is left with no option but to allow Patch to drive her home. Once home, Patch offers to make tacos. Nora becomes suspicious and worried as the size of the knife he uses changes sizes. The two nearly kiss, but are interrupted by her mom calling in an attempt to check on Nora.

Nora becomes increasingly more connected with Patch and begins to change her opinion of him, especially after meeting his closest and only friend Rixon. Meanwhile she also begins to grow more curious and suspicious of Elliot after discovering his involvement in a murder case in his last school.

Nora becomes extremely afraid after a bag lady was murdered in front of her. She'd given the woman her coat in exchange for directions. She calls Patch for a ride home due to the rain and her fear, but his Jeep breaks down partway through and the pair are forced to take shelter in a shabby motel. While in the room, Nora finds that Patch has an upside down V on his back, which she earlier thought was her imagination during a play fight between Rixon and Patch at Bo's Arcade. Fascinated by it she manages to touch the scar and in doing so she is pulled into his memories of his past. This revelation prompts Patch to demand to know what she had seen and Patch to reveal all as Nora continues to demand answers also into what is going on in her life since they met.

In doing so it leads to the revelation that Patch is actually a fallen angel from Heaven who was trying to kill her and in doing so gains a human body. Her death would kill his Nephilim vassal Chauncey Langeais and make Patch completely human. She also discovers that Patch has an ex-girlfriend named Dabria, an angel of death that wants Patch to save Nora’s life so he can become a guardian angel and so he can get back together with her. Patch had initially discarded Dabria’s idea out of a desire to become human, but the plan failed because he had fallen in love with Nora.

In a turn of events it’s revealed that her friend Jules is actually Chauncey, who wants revenge on Patch for tricking him into swearing an oath that will allow Patch to take over his body during the Hebrew month of Cheshvan. After leaving the motel and going home Dabria breaks in to Nora's and says that she wants to kill Nora in order to prevent Patch from doing so and becoming human. Nora is narrowly saved by Patch, who goes after Dabria and strips her of her wings in vengeance, already knowing the archangels would have done the same for trying to kill Nora.

Nora is later invited to a game of hide and seek with Vee, Jules, and Elliot, with Elliot hinting that Vee will not survive the game if Nora doesn't participate. Despite Patch attempting to get her to remain behind in the car, Nora goes after them. She soon discovers Jules unmoving body, presuming Elliot killed him, only be cornered by Jules who is alive and well, who confesses that he was behind various attacks on her life as a way of getting revenge against Patch. The game becomes more deadly after escaping Jules and is later faced at gun point.

Nora struggles with Jules while Patch tries to distract him, but this approach fails and Patch is forced to possess Nora’s body to fight him. The process leaves Patch unconscious after he’s separated from her body because it is not the month of Cheshvan.

As an attempt to escape, Nora climbs to the rafters of the school gym, but is tested when Jules uses mind trick into thinking the ladders are breaking and she is going to fall to her death, but Patch manages to help her through it by making her focus on his voice in her mind.

Jules holds her at gun point, and begins to climb up the ladder after her, but Nora confronts him with the knowledge that if she were to sacrifice her life Patch would become human and Jules would die. With this in mind Nora throws herself from the rafters, which effectively kills Jules.

In the end Nora wakes up alive and well, and is once more confronted with Patch who explained that he did not take her sacrifice. In doing so, Patch also saves Nora's Life and becomes her guardian angel. The two share a romantic moment, ending the book.

Characters

Nora Grey

Nora Grey is the main protagonist and narrator of Hush, Hush. Nora lives with her mother at the farmhouse in Coldwater, Maine, and attends Coldwater High School (CHS) with her best friend Vee. She is studious and diligent. Her father, Harrison Grey, was murdered a year ago. She meets Patch when Coach decides to have a new seat arrangement and becomes her new biology partner. At first she is reluctant to have Patch as her partner but eventually becomes intrigued by him. She falls for him against her better judgement. Jules and Patch mention several times that she has a "weak mind"; this doesn't mean that she's weak-willed, but that it's extremely difficult for her to block out mind controllers.

Patch Cipriano

Patch Cipriano, a new senior at Coldwater High, is Nora's new biology partner. He is a powerful fallen angel who has a lot of enemies. He spends his time playing pool at Bo's Arcade. He doesn't care for anything else other than becoming human until he met Nora Grey. He keeps his past under wraps and is accused of more lies than truth from Nora - he is not, in fact, lying, he simply avoids the questions. He can be sly and brooding, and frequently leaves Nora alternately furious or tongue-tied. He uses his charms as a way of getting what he wants and avoiding unwanted questions, though he begins to open up as the novel progresses. Nora eventually learns he is a fallen angel, who fell when he loved a human girl and tried to be with her. After failing to take control of a human body, the avenging angels ripped Patch's wings off on his way back to heaven. He cannot feel physically—it is described like experiencing the world through a pane of glass—but he can experience emotions. When he is restored as a guardian angel, he regains the ability to fly, though he still cannot feel, as he has not yet "earned" that right to feel back.

Vee Sky

Vee is Nora's best friend. Vee is described as a "green-eyed, minky blonde, and a few pounds over curvy". She is funny throughout the book, but can be a bit immature, especially about "S-E-X". She is also quick to judge people and will ignore facts if she doesn't like them. She is later attacked by a man in a ski mask on, later revealed to be Dabria/Miss Greene. After the attack, she shows an extreme distrust in Patch, mistaking him for the attacker.

Elliot Saunders

Elliot is a guy that Nora met at a shop. He would flirt and defend Nora at every opportunity. Nora later discovers that he is suspected of killing a girl therefore Nora is unsure of who he really is. It is revealed that Jules is his benefactor as a scholar in Kinghorn Prep. Jules later on tests Elliot's loyalty by making him choose between his lover or his education, ultimately giving in to Jules. He is revealed to be Jules' pawn in his plan on exacting revenge on Patch by hurting Nora. He is incapacitated by Jules in the school library while luring Nora into the trap. He is saved from dying after Vee calls the police.

Jules/Chauncey Langeais

Jules is dark and six-foot-four with shoulder length blonde hair. He is revealed in the later part of the book to be Patch's vassal, Chauncey, who wants to have revenge on the fallen angel for tricking him into swearing an oath that will allow Patch to take control over his body for two weeks during the Hebrew month of Cheshvan. He inherited the power to create illusions from his father, using it to frighten Nora numerous times in the book. He would also use Elliot as his pawn in his plan to hurt Patch. As a Nephilim, he is killed when Nora sacrificed herself by jumping off the ladder. Patch explains that when Nora came back, Chauncey didn't have a soul to reanimate his body, successfully killing him for good. He is related to Nora through her father

Marcie

Marcie is the easy and popular girl at Coldwater High School who has an on-going grudge with Nora. Marcie and Nora have been enemies since middle school, when Marcie publicly displayed Nora's underwear and spray-painted 'whore' on her locker. The reasons for her hatred of Nora are unknown. Her dad is the owner of Coldwater's Toyota dealership and she lives in an affluent neighborhood. She tries to always publically humiliate Nora in any way possible.

Dabria/Miss Greene

Dabria is an Angel of Death and Patch's former lover. She came down to the earth to find Patch who fell after trying to be with a human girl by becoming human himself. She wanted Patch to get back his wings by saving Nora from death and go back to her. She is also the new psychologist at school because she wants to get close to Nora and Patch. She later attempts to kill Nora at one point to get him back, but is unsuccessful. Due to these deeds she begins to fall, and Patch speeds up the process by ripping her already weakened wings off.

Sequels

Hush, Hush was followed by three books, Crescendo, Silence, and Finale. The novels were released consecutively each year, with Finale being announced as the final book in the series. The series was initially promoted as being a trilogy,[2] but it was later announced that the series would comprise four books, thus being a tetralogy.[3]

Adaptations

Film adaptation

On December 4, 2012 Entertainment Weekly revealed that the entire Hush, Hush series had been optioned by LD Entertainment.[4] LD Entertainment announced that they would be turning the books into a film series, with Greek creator Patrick Sean Smith set to write the screenplay for the first installment.[4] On July 8, 2014 Becca announced on her website that she has decided that now is not the right time to move forward with the Hush, Hush movie and has not renewed the movie option with LD Entertainment. She says that she appreciates the support but hopes that the fans respect her decision. She has said that she is not saying the movie will never happen, but it won’t be moving forward at this time.

Graphic novel

In 2011 Sea Lion Books published the first volume in a proposed three volume adaptation of Hush, Hush, the first book in the series.[5] Artist Jennyson Rosero was stated to be drawing the series, with Fitzpatrick and Rosero using Fitzpatrick's blog to receive reader advice and criticism from preliminary sketches.[6]

References

External links