Chime by Franny Billingsley/361 pages

Briony has a secret. She thinks her secret killed her stepmother, damaged her twin sister's mind and now her secret threatens all the children of Swampsea. I thought it was hard to get into this story, hard to like Briony and her guilt ridden dialogue. But after awhile, she grew on me. I liked the setting, a magical swamp where Boggy Mun can strike people dead with the swamp cough and Mucky Face, a monster from the swamp calls Briony mistress. Takes place at the turn of century and witches, and those thought to be,  are hung for sport. Briony is convinced she is a witch and will be hung for her past secrets. Then comes Eldric, the swamp drainer's son, a very likeable and handsome young man who finds Briony and her twin sister enchanting and makes Briony forget to hate herself.

As one reviewer said, "large parts of my brain checked out as I tried to grapple with the sequence of events, none of which are tied together by traditional means. Chapters abruptly begin, abandoning the locations, focus, or characters of a previous chapter. Things happen suddenly with no explanation. Someone loses a hand at one point and I'm still not entirely clear how it happened. "