gr8 txts: historical
Here are our librarians' picks:
I am Rembrandt’s Daughter
Lynn Cullen
With her mother dead and her brother away, Cornelia is left to cope with the eccentricities of her artist father alone. Hope of a better future is offered by a tentative romance with the son of a wealthy businessman but true happiness may lie with her father’s last devoted pupil, Neel.
9780747591993 Bloomsbury, 2008
The Red Necklace
Sally Gardner
After witnessing Yann’s mind reading act, a servant of the Marquis de Villeduval invites him to perform at his château, where Yann falls in love with Sido, daughter of the Marquis. Set during the French Revolution, mixing historical drama with romance, madness, magic and a mysterious killer who leaves a garnet necklace on all his victims.
9781842556344 Orion Children’s, 2008
Newes from the Dead
Mary Hooper
Based on a true incident from 1650 when a servant girl apparently returned from the dead after being hung for a crime she didn’t commit. The story is narrated by Anne, the serving girl and Robert, the medical student who realises she is still alive, giving a differing view on the event and its aftermath. Simultaneously tragic and gruesome.
9780370329482 Bodley Head, 2008
Aztec: The Goldsmith’s Daughter
Tanya Landman
Itacate has little choice in how her life will run: she can be a servant or a mother and nothing more. When she starts to show some of her father’s talent for jewellery-making he takes her on as his apprentice, leading to unwelcome attention from the Aztec emperor and the soldiers of the Spanish invasion.
9781406307078 Walker, 2008
The Puppet Master
Joanne Owen
With her father dead and her mother vanished, Mileena tries to carry on the family tradition and re-open their puppet theatre. Unfortunately her plans are disrupted by the arrival of the eccentric Puppet Master and his oddly life-like puppets. A compelling mystery set in turn-of-the-century Prague, weaving together the secrets of Mileena’s ancestry with traditional European folk tales.
9781842555842 Orion Children’s, 2008
Sovay
Celia Rees
To test the will of her cheating fiancé, Sovay dons her brothers clothing and robs his coach. He fails her challenge and ends their engagement, leaving her free to become ‘Captain Blaze’, fearless highwayman, experiencing more danger, excitement and romance than the average 18th century girl, before her family connections draw her across the channel and into the French Revolution.
9780747592006 Bloomsbury, 2008