"CORDELIA UNDERWOOD: or, The Marvelous Beginnings of the Moosepath League"

by Van Reid ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 1998

A plucky heroine (the eponymous Cordelia), a Pickwickian fairy godfather (the endearingly benign Tobias Walton), rumors that Captain Kidd's buried treasure has surfaced, and a more than normally itinerant moose are important elements in this fetching picaresque--set on the Maine coast in the late 1890s--which was originally published serially in the Lincoln (Maine) County Weekly. It's indeed an homage to Dickens (the misadventures of a trio of bachelor ""club"" members being one of several dead giveaways), and even its most self-indulgently corny gags and coincidences are leavened by an infectious comic energy and Reid's predilection for rousing period fustian. High entertainment, with sequels promised. Dickens would have approved, and fellow down-easter Stephen King might well look to his laurels.

Pub Date: July 1, 1998

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 480

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1998

Categories: FICTION