I'm not that into young adult literature (at all actually), but overall I liked the idea in this, and that it's set at the beginning of the 20th century. The execution was unsatisfying. The bits where characters argued about women's rights and were sad about Titanic felt out of place, like Gripe definitely wanted something to scream the time period, but couldn't decide where to put them so she jammed them somewhere where they seemed to fit. They didn't. The characters were also unlikeable and sometimes behaved oddly and unnaturally. The biggest problem for me however was the whole mystery of the photograph itself. I don't know if it was because things are made more obvious in books for young adults or what, but I guessed what was going on pretty quickly. The mystery of the twin brother was lame as well. I was also hoping something more about the father's interest in Swedenborg, since it reminded me of Uncle Silas, but I guess it wasn't supposed to be important.

The second part of the series seems interesting, though, so maybe I'll have a look at some point if I feel like it.