by Kate Cayley ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 2011
A slow paced and ultimately depressing tale of a not-often-depicted place and time that will, though somewhat flawed,...
It is 18th-century Montreal, and 15-year-old Françoise Laurent has been sentenced to be hanged. How she came to that position is only gradually uncovered.
In a first-person narration that seems oddly inappropriate to Françoise’s humble background, she slowly reveals the hardships of her life: extreme poverty, brutally hard work, a total lack of education—until her father decides to teach her to read after her brother is stillborn—and a grim absence of any hope for a better future. Her character loosely based on a real person, the only living child of an often-drunk, failed soldier and his hard-drinking, prostitute-turned-washerwoman and wife, Françoise’s spirited guidance is the only thing that keeps them alive at all. When tragedy leads to the unexpected opportunity to become the personal maid to a wealthy, embittered lady, things seem to be looking up for her—at least until she makes a serious yet intentional blunder that results in her downfall. Françoise’s detailed descriptions of all that she sees provide a depth to the narrative but also slow it to a sometimes frustratingly languid pace. Her insights and language, while interesting, fail to ring completely true, given her uneducated, near-destitute upbringing.
A slow paced and ultimately depressing tale of a not-often-depicted place and time that will, though somewhat flawed, satisfy dedicated historical-fiction fans. (Historical fiction. 11 & up)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-55451-357-4
Page Count: 232
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
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by Ruta Sepetys ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 2, 2016
Heartbreaking, historical, and a little bit hopeful.
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January 1945: as Russians advance through East Prussia, four teens’ lives converge in hopes of escape.
Returning to the successful formula of her highly lauded debut, Between Shades of Gray (2011), Sepetys combines research (described in extensive backmatter) with well-crafted fiction to bring to life another little-known story: the sinking (from Soviet torpedoes) of the German ship Wilhelm Gustloff. Told in four alternating voices—Lithuanian nurse Joana, Polish Emilia, Prussian forger Florian, and German soldier Alfred—with often contemporary cadences, this stints on neither history nor fiction. The three sympathetic refugees and their motley companions (especially an orphaned boy and an elderly shoemaker) make it clear that while the Gustloff was a German ship full of German civilians and soldiers during World War II, its sinking was still a tragedy. Only Alfred, stationed on the Gustloff, lacks sympathy; almost a caricature, he is self-delusional, unlikable, a Hitler worshiper. As a vehicle for exposition, however, and a reminder of Germany’s role in the war, he serves an invaluable purpose that almost makes up for the mustache-twirling quality of his petty villainy. The inevitability of the ending (including the loss of several characters) doesn’t change its poignancy, and the short chapters and slowly revealed back stories for each character guarantee the pages keep turning.
Heartbreaking, historical, and a little bit hopeful. (author’s note, research and sources, maps) (Historical fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-16030-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
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by Elizabeth Wein ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 3, 2020
Another soaring success.
Wein returns with another emotional flight through World War II, this time in Scotland.
Three young people’s lives intersect in a remote Scottish village, their bond cemented by the unexpected receipt of the first Enigma machine to reach Allied hands. Characters who appear here from earlier volumes include: volunteer Ellen McEwen, respected by others who don’t know she’s a Traveller; flight leader Jamie Beaufort-Stuart, alive but with a flight log of dead friends; and 15-year-old biracial Jamaican English orphan Louisa Adair, employed (by phone, without disclosing her skin color) to care for an elderly but fierce German woman. All of them are bound by a sense of helplessness and a desire to make a difference; Wein shines at exploring the tension between the horrors of war and its unexpected pleasures, many thanks to friendships that could only exist during a time of upheaval. In many ways a small story about big things—fitting in a novel thematically focused on the ways individuals matter—this is historical fiction at its finest, casting a light on history (with some minor liberties, noted in the extensive backmatter) as well as raising questions still relevant today, particularly around class and race, nationality and belonging; unexpected connections across those gulfs lead to moments of love and heartbreak for readers and characters alike.
Another soaring success. (author’s note, resources) (Historical fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-368-01258-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion/LBYR
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
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