Two Manitoba girls meet across a 150-year divide. Each is grieving her mother’s untimely death and struggling to adjust to new and difficult family dynamics. Contemporary Cass must share a room with her whiny stepsister while her new stepmother remodels their home to eliminate all traces of Cass’s mother. Back in 1856, residing in the same house, Beatrice, who is English Métis (with Scottish and First Nations ancestry), strives to make a life for herself while shielding her Swampy Cree grandmother from her harsh Scottish stepmother’s neglect. When Cass discovers a brooch that belonged to Beatrice, each becomes increasingly aware of the other, offering support and understanding missing at home. Should Beatrice choose her refined missionary suitor over her stepmother’s effervescent, unpredictable son? Can Cass find a way to heal her fractured home life? Buffie’s characters and the conflicts they face are deeply engaging, more than compensating for the well-worn time-travel plot device. Of special interest is the rare portrait of a multiracial community when informal marriages among British and First Nations people were common. (glossaries, author’s note) (Historical fantasy. 11 & up)
Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-88776-968-9
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2010
Compulsively readable and brilliant.
A rare look at the youth-led rebellion that toppled Romania’s Ceaușescu.
Seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu, with his spiky hair, love of poetry and English, and crush on Liliana Pavel, is as much of a rebel as it’s possible to be in Bucharest, Romania, in 1989. Communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu has been in power for 24 years, and most Romanians live in poverty, exporting what they produce to unknowingly fund Ceaușescu’s obscenely extravagant lifestyle. Wild dogs attack children in the streets, and secret agents are everywhere. When an agent confronts Cristian with evidence of treason—a single dollar bill tucked inside his notebook—and also offers medicine for Bunu, his sick grandfather, Cristian agrees to spy on the American diplomat family whose son he’s become friendly with. But as young Romanians gradually become aware that other countries have gained freedom from communism, they rise up in an unconquerable wave. Sepetys brilliantly blends a staggering amount of research with heart, craft, and insight in a way very few writers can. Told from Cristian’s point of view, intercut by secret police memos and Cristian’s own poetry, the novel crackles with energy; Cristian and his friends join the groundswell of young Romanians, combining pragmatism, subterfuge, hope, and daring. While the story ends with joy on Christmas Day, the epilogue recounts the betrayals and losses that follow. The last line will leave readers gasping.
Compulsively readable and brilliant. (maps, photos, author's note, research notes, sources) (Historical fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-984836-03-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
A riveting read.
My fair lady is a spy.
Living under the thumb of her abusive stepfather, sea-wreckage diver Frannie Tasker finds a crafty way to escape after a boat trip in the Bahamas, shortly after her mother’s death in the summer of 1776, ends in tragedy. A day of wrecking turns into a thunderous and violent night in which another ship sinks and a young woman drowns, giving Frannie an opportunity to flee. Frannie assumes the petticoats, gown, and life of the late Miss Emmeline Coates and boards the Ambrosia, tricking the crew into bringing her to New York. Little does she know that her subterfuge would lead to a new life of wealth and luxury, espionage and danger. Convinced by her reading of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense while sailing to Manhattan, the heart of the American Revolution, Frannie becomes a spy for the patriots. As a lady with access to some of the crown’s highest officers, Frannie gathers a wealth of information and passes it along to George Washington’s network. Endangering her freedom, life, and reputation by serving as an asset for the patriots, Frannie risks it all. Rich in historical detail and inspired by a true story, daring and courageous Frannie, code name “355,” does her bit for the American Revolution. Frannie is white, her mother was an immigrant from Spain, and she is portrayed as a supporter of abolition.
A riveting read. (author’s note) (Historical fiction. 12-17)Pub Date: June 23, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5247-7122-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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