Civil war looms in 17th-century England, but at first the threat of political violence seems remote to a girl named Makepeace, who faces terrors far more immediate. In “A Skinful of Shadows” (Amulet, 415 pages, $19.99), a sophisticated historical fantasy by Frances Hardinge, Makepeace has always suspected that something separates her and her mother from their Puritan neighbors. One night, in a terrifying graveyard ordeal, she learns the truth. From her father’s rich and ancient family, the Fellmottes, she has inherited a sickening vulnerability: Ghosts can sense her presence and, with their “smoky, molten faces,” will...