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Summary
Summary
A School for Unusual Girls is the first captivating installment in the Stranje House series for young adults by award-winning author Kathleen Baldwin. #1 New York Times bestselling author Meg Cabot calls this romantic Regency adventure "completely original and totally engrossing."
It's 1814. Napoleon is exiled on Elba. Europe is in shambles. Britain is at war on four fronts. And Stranje House, a School for Unusual Girls, has become one of Regency England's dark little secrets. The daughters of the beau monde who don't fit high society's constrictive mold are banished to Stranje House to be reformed into marriageable young ladies. Or so their parents think. In truth, Headmistress Emma Stranje, the original unusual girl, has plans for the young ladies-plans that entangle the girls in the dangerous world of spies, diplomacy, and war.
After accidentally setting her father's stables on fire while performing a scientific experiment, Miss Georgiana Fitzwilliam is sent to Stranje House. But Georgie has no intention of being turned into a simpering, pudding-headed, marriageable miss. She plans to escape as soon as possible-until she meets Lord Sebastian Wyatt. Thrust together in a desperate mission to invent a new invisible ink for the English war effort, Georgie and Sebastian must find a way to work together without losing their heads-or their hearts....
"Enticing from the first sentence." - New York Times Book Review
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 8 Up-This intriguing series opener is a tale of daring, conspiracy, adventure, and romance set against the tumultuous, backdrop of war-torn Europe in 1814. Napoleon is in exile on Elba, dignitaries from across Europe are gathering at the Congress of Vienna, and assassination plots are rumored. At the cavernous Stranje House in England, a select group of spirited, inventive, and nonconformist girls are secretly learning espionage tactics. Georgiana Fitzwilliam has an unconventional aptitude and enthusiasm for math and science. When one of her experiments accidentally leads to a fire in her father's stables, Georgie is banished by her exasperated parents to the supposedly harsh, reforming tutelage of Headmistress Emily Stranje. Georgie gradually discovers that all is not as it seems. Her classmates have special talents; her headmistress is a clever, well-connected, resourceful teacher; and visiting Lord Sebastian Wyatt is on a covert mission. Georgie's invention of invisible ink becomes a vital secret communication weapon supporting the new order in Europe. Although the novel is rich in historical references, language, and culture, not all of the happenings are actually true. This alternative history series will appeal to fans of Gail Carriger's works and "The Cecelia and Kate" novels (Harcourt) by Patricia C. Wrede and Carolyn Stevermer. Teens will enjoy the well-drawn cast of characters and identify with 19th-century Georgie's angst, insecurity, desire for independence, and first love. VERDICT The spunky, naive, and passsionate protagonist will resonate with readers, who will appreciate the lively, fast-paced narrative of personal discovery, maturing realizations, and understanding.-Gerry Larson, formerly at Durham School of the Arts, NC (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
In 1814 England, banished to Stranje House for "severe" reform, Georgiana discovers a place where the unusual residents are encouraged in their "eccentricities" (for Georgie: her love of science). Georgie's invention of invisible ink helps support the English war effort in this carefully balanced adventure of girl empowerment, spies, and romance. Baldwin acknowledges historical alterations for readers unfamiliar with the Napoleonic era. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A romantic adventure set amid the chaos of the Napoleonic era. Georgiana Fitzwilliam is packed off to boarding school after one too many failed science experiments. Her parents deposit her unceremoniously in the care of Emma Stranje, who runs a school outside London that masquerades as a glorified torture chamber for wayward society daughters but is really a front for spy training. What seems at first to be a harrowing disaster for Georgiana is in fact a uniquely tantalizing opportunity. Each of the four female students has a special gift that makes her too peculiar for society life, but their talents are of great use to the crown. Miss Stranje and her collaborators hope to leverage Georgie's experiments with invisible ink for greater secrecy as they attempt to thwart Napoleon's wily network of spies. Although the novel relies too heavily on genre clichsGeorgie's budding attraction to a young viscount associate of Miss Stranje is all flashing eyes and clashing wits la Lizzie and Darcythe era is richly substantiated with period details. An afterword clarifies the liberties taken with historical events and encourages readers to ponder the possible outcomes to any given fork in the road. Baldwin's tale lacks the fizzy pop of Sarah Zettel's Palace of Spies series, but romance readers who prize both brains and valor in a heroine will be pleased to make Georgie's acquaintance. (Mystery/historical fiction. 12-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
It's 1814, and Georgiana is an embarrassment to her family. Uninterested in the finer arts, she prefers experimenting with chemicals, trying to perfect a formula for invisible ink. Burning down her father's stables is the final straw; she is sent to Stranje House, a boarding school that bills itself as a place to reform unusual girls. Here students perfect their special talents, along with a general curriculum that includes shooting guns, throwing knives, and escaping imprisonment. But Georgie's invisible ink holds a special attraction for those tasked with shepherding King Louis XVIII's return to the French throne. Baldwin has crafted a Regency romance that celebrates smart, strong young women who, while careful to embrace many of society's mores, hold their own with the men they encounter, oftentimes besting them both intellectually and physically. While much of the history of the Napoleonic era is accurate, some is not, something Baldwin readily acknowledges. Readers can look forward to revisiting these enthralling characters and their adventures and romances in the Stranje House series.--Bradburn, Frances Copyright 2015 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
WHAT HAPPENS DURING summer vacation has a lot to teach us about children and reading. Librarians and teachers are very aware of the "summer slide." This friendly-sounding phrase describes the loss of reading skills during the long break. After two months of not reading, a student experiences a gap in learning that, by the time she reaches middle school, might add up to a two-year lag in skills. We also know that children who choose reading as a leisure activity will do well on those dreaded tests of comprehension, vocabulary and reading speed. But how do you get them to want to read? One thing is hardly shocking: Children who choose their own reading material read. This means that required summer reading lists don't work to keep kids reading. What does work is taking them to the public library and signing up for summer reading programs. What does work is surrounding kids with all kinds of books - comics, how-to-make-paper-airplanes books, fantasy series - and letting them choose what they like. Nonetheless, there are always books that adults are well advised to put within the reach of children - subtly - in the hope that they'll be drawn in. The books under review here are all examples of the genre called "speculative fiction," and they are all first books in a series. They are also books I can picture a young reader choosing. In the end, though, it will be up to her. Trust her choices. AN EXCELLENT NEW SERIES asks for a commitment. As readers, we enter into an agreement with the author. We take the time to get to know the characters, the setting and premise. We understand that we might have to wait to continue this journey, but we also insist that this book be whole and stand on its own. Gordon Korman has a strong track record with middle-grade and young adult series, including several turns writing books in the best-selling "39 Clues" adventure series. He is the king of voice and setup, and he never fails to make me laugh out loud. His latest, "Masterminds," a high-stakes tale told from varying points of view, is set in the tiny planned community of Serenity, N.M. - a place of "honesty, harmony and contentment" where, supposedly, kids can grow up safe, carefree and happy. There is no crime, no unemployment, no poverty and no homelessness. The narrators are a cohort of 13-yearolds. Eli Frieden is the son of the principal of their small public school, who also happens to be the town's mayor. His dad, like all the parents in Serenity, constantly reminds him to be grateful to be growing up in this perfect environment, but Eli isn't quite sure. For one thing, he doesn't feel right about the fact that he's never once stepped foot outside Serenity. Amber Laska, however, has no problem being grateful. With her impressive mathematical abilities and unquestioning grace, she happily conducts her scheduled life of achieving outstanding test results while keeping up with piano and ballet lessons. Then there's Malik, the biggest kid in town. He's an outspoken malcontent, making fun of the town sayings, traditions and rules. He bullies Hector, the smallest of the group, who senses things are not quite as they seem on the surface and understands that Malik might have the right idea with his plan to leave town as soon as he's old enough. Korman slowly reveals details that suggest the utopian community is something else altogether, and Eli and his friends find themselves caught up in a conspiracy. Suffice it to say that what's really going on in Serenity involves the cloning of incarcerated criminals and a carefully orchestrated government plot. The teenagers, for their part, must grapple with their growing realization that there is almost no one they can trust, including their seemingly benign parents. Another middle-grade series off to a great start is "The Keepers: The Box and the Dragonfly," from the debut novelist Ted Sanders. Despite the familiar motifs - an outsider with untapped special talent, a gang of friends united against forces of evil - what we have here is a winding fantasy adventure that will appeal to readers of J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan. Horace F. Andrews, age 12, is traveling on a crowded city bus when he spies a tall and narrow building sign with his name on it, in faded old-fashioned lettering, preceded by a list of words. The only ones he catches are "Artifacts. Miseries. Mysteries." Impulsively, Horace leaps out of the bus. "What possible reason," he wonders, "could any business have for putting 'Miseries' on its sign?" As Horace looks for the building, a strange, malodorous man blocks his path and sneers a cryptic pronouncement: "Watch where you roam, Tinker....Curiosity is a walk fraught with peril." The creepy stranger is not far wrong, as the building Horace enters turns out to be the House of Answers, a warehouse of wonders that would give Diagon Alley competition for the most fantastical architectural structure. The House of Answers contains an archive of curious bins with odd labels like FLAT and SUBTLE. The bins hold objects like scissors with sharp outer edges, a two-foot-long corkscrew and an ice cream scoop as big as a head. The most fascinating is a small box, its meaning and purpose shrouded in mystery. Horace is drawn to it and cannot let it out of his sight. A physical longing that he cannot explain compels him to keep the box close by. The proprietor, Mr. Meister, lets him have the box, warning him not to allow it into the sight of the dangerous stranger. Soon after, Horace meets Chloe, also 12, who received her own transformative item, a dragonfly pendant, at the tender age of 5. These objects, we learn, are instruments called Tanu that bond to their "Keepers." The device chooses the Keeper, who must find the object's powers on his or her own through experimentation and discovery. There were moments when I felt bogged down in the details of the series's setup. But those who stick with it will find a satisfying and original quest tale. We cheer on Horace as he painstakingly refines his newly found talent to enable objects to travel in time. Meanwhile, Chloe is also strengthening her own unique gift for hiding in plain sight. Horace, Chloe and their new companions - Neptune, who can float, and Gabriel, who can temporarily blind - set out to rescue Chloe's father. He is being held hostage by the malevolent race of beings called the Riven, who hunger to claim all Tanu for their own. I was left longing for the next episode. "A School for Unusual Girls," by Kathleen Baldwin, is enticing from the first sentence: "What if Sir Isaac Newton's parents had packed him off to a school to reform his manners?" Our protofeminist teenage protagonist, Miss Georgiana Fitzwilliam, known as Georgie, utters those lines. Possessing the robust intellect of a promising scientist along with a lack of interest in conforming to the societal norms of early 1800s England, she's banished to a boarding school with a reputation for "reforming" recalcitrant girls into compliant companions. This first installment of the Stranje House series has all the markers of a Regency romance - elaborate manners, rigid social hierarchies and historical accuracy about the fine points of clothing and culture. Baldwin has an ear for period dialogue as she draws us into this world of sharp, smart young ladies who are actually being trained and deployed for the British war effort by the mysterious headmistress, Miss Stranje. It's speculative historical fiction, with a trace of steampunk inventiveness: Would a refinement of invisible ink in 1814 have changed the course of history, helping the British evade spies in the war they were fighting on multiple fronts? Swoony moments also abound ("An instant later, his mouth found mine....It felt as if he poured years of hunger and longing, thousands of heartbreaking secrets into me, into this one urgent moment"); after all, this is a romance as well. Yet gender stereotypes are turned upside down as the women, who each have an unusual talent, plan a daring spy mission. Georgie literally flies to the rescue of her beloved Sebastian, taken captive in an enemy stronghold. "The Sin Eater's Daughter," another debut novel, combines the compelling world-building narrative style of Kristin Cashore's "Graceling" with the political intrigue of Megan Whalen Turner's "The Thief." In this well-imagined fantasy world, we meet Twylla, who is the "chosen one," identified when she was still a young child by royal leaders as the hand of the ancient gods. Narrating the novel in a rueful voice, she slowly reveals her situation: As the embodiment of the gods on earth, she is able to survive the intake of poison and then kill another with a poisonous touch. Promised to be wed to the prince, whom she hardly knows since he has been on diplomatic missions for years, she lives in the palace, feared by all who come in close proximity. She can touch no one. But according to the lore, the prince's royal blood will protect him from the poison contained in hers. Twylla's days are spent in prayer, though she is occasionally called upon to perform an execution by merely laying hands on the guilty party. She witnesses the casual cruelty of the queen but knows she has no power to prevent the terrible punishments the queen relishes. Melinda Salisbury wraps the horror of Twylla's situation in the complex spiritual traditions of the kingdom. Besides her poisonous role as the chosen one, she is also the daughter of the Sin Eater, whose duty is to be present after a death to consume a meal that contains the sins of the departed, thereby saving the person's soul from damnation. "I'd watched my mother Eat coddled eggs for thieves and boiled horse liver for scolds and nags," Twylla says, and she was raised to expect to take her mother's place, since it's a hereditary position. Coming of age in the palace, cloistered from people and deprived of an education, Twylla believes without question her spiritual purpose. It is only when she's seduced by the seemingly guileless charm of her newly appointed guard, Lief, that the veil of naïveté lifts. Once she sees the darker truth of the kingdom, she begins to imagine a different kind of future for herself. "I don't live in the stories of old," she says in an epilogue as she begins a new life, and we wonder what stories are ahead for her. All of these books offer a chance to experience the new and anticipatory pleasure of starting a series. As the best series have always done, they suggest future bingereading: getting through all of Narnia in a week, visiting Earthsea and staying for a long while, and reaching to the very end of Middle-earth only to begin again. LISA VON DRASEK is the curator of the Children's Literature Research Collections at the University of Minnesota. She writes about children's and young adult books at www.earlyword.com.