Mary Quinn, a young woman alone in Victorian London, is about to hang for thievery when she is whisked away and offered a new life in a women’s academy. Eventually she learns the academy is a front for an all-female detective agency. Mary’s first assignment takes her to the home of a wealthy merchant, where she is to gather evidence of wrongdoing while posing as a companion for his daughter. It is soon apparent that his household has more than its share of secrets. Mary finds herself forced to partner with James, the brother of her young charge’s suitor, who has suspicions about the family. The first in a series, this volume sets up its premise in an unobtrusive manner. There is interesting chemistry between Mary and James as well as hints that they may reunite in a future volume. The descriptions of a crowded, smelly and unsanitary city are both well-drawn and important plot elements, as are the mores of Victorian life. Most intriguing is the unusual ethnic heritage Mary strives to conceal, which adds a fresh dimension. (Historical mystery. 12 & up)
Pub Date: March 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7636-4067-5
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 29, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2010
A smart, gripping thriller with engaging interactive elements.
In this debut, a young woman must traverse Washington, D.C., and decipher clues left by her father.
Seventeen-year-old Mia’s globetrotting family has always been close, despite their busy lives. Her father, a history professor and cryptography specialist, has moved them around the world through his various jobs in academia; her mother’s work as a freelance journalist focusing on “political unrest and social injustice” has also been well suited to travel. When her dad accepts a position at Georgetown University, the Hayes family returns to the States. Mia is trying to decide on college prospects when a night of unexpected violence upends her entire world. Set against a backdrop of fictional yet meaningfully realistic political unrest over societal wealth disparities, the story follows Mia as she finds herself on her own, trying to solve the clues in a scavenger hunt designed by her father that takes her across the city. Along the way, readers encounter ciphers that they can try to solve on their own. By chance, Mia meets Logan, a guy about her age who accompanies her through various twists and turns—and she must quickly decide whether she can trust him. The propulsive plot is peppered with their clever banter, which balances the weightier themes of social justice and Mia’s sympathetic struggle with disillusionment as she suddenly makes disorienting discoveries. Mia and Logan present white.
A smart, gripping thriller with engaging interactive elements. (content note, note to readers) (Thriller. 13-18)Pub Date: July 22, 2025
ISBN: 9781250355546
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
This book will take root in readers’ hearts.
Fabiola Toussaint is a black immigrant girl whose life is flipped upside down when she moves to Detroit, Michigan, from her homeland of Haiti and her mother is detained by ICE, leaving her to go on alone.
Though Fabiola was born in the U.S., she has lived in Haiti since she was an infant, and that has now left her unprepared for life in America. In Detroit, she lives with her aunt Marjorie and her three thoroughly Americanized cousins, Chantal, Primadonna, and Princess. It’s not easy holding on to her heritage and identity in Detroit; Matant Jo fines Fabiola for speaking Creole (though even still “a bit of Haiti is peppered in her English words”), and the gritty streets of Detroit are very different from those of Port-au-Prince. Fabiola has her faith to help keep her grounded, which grows ever more important as she navigates her new school, American society, and a surprising romance—but especially when she is faced with a dangerous proposition that brings home to her the fact that freedom comes with a price. Fabiola’s perceptive, sensitive narration gives readers a keen, well-executed look into how the American dream can be a nightmare for so many. Filling her pages with magic, humanity, tragedy, and hope, Zoboi builds up, takes apart, and then rebuilds an unforgettable story.
This book will take root in readers’ hearts. (Fiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-247304-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2016
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