Mercy : The Last New England Vampire by Sarah L. Thomson

Fourteen-year-old Haley is struggling to cope—with her stepmom and baby brother, with her beloved cousin's terminal illness, with dropping grades at school. When she digs deep into her family history for a school project, she uncovers a disturbing New England tradition and a ghostly past. Haley must overcome her doubts and confront a vampire in order to save herself and her family.

Mercy, by accomplished children's author Sarah L. Thomson, is inspired by a true New England story. Mercy Brown and her family lived in Exeter, R.I., in the late 1890s, when the New England vampire tradition held powerful sway. When Mercy's family members began to die, fear struck deep in the hearts of the small community. Following Mercy's death, when her brother took sick, villagers convinced Mercy's father to exhume her corpse, dig out her heart, burn it and feed it to her brother. He too died—as Mercy had—from tuberculosis. Thomson's gifts as a storyteller and writer make great use of this disquieting true story to weave a unique and exciting coming of age story as Haley learns to live with change, loss, and death.