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Tripp, Ben. 2014. The Accidental Highwayman: Being the Tale of Kit Bristol, His Horse Midnight, a Mysterious Princess, and Sundry Magical Persons Besides. New York: Tor Teen.

Can I tell you how much I like this book?  I reviewed it several months ago for AudioFile Magazine and could hardly wait until they published my review so that I could freely blog about my affinity for it!  Although "swashbuckling" is the term I've seen most often in reviews of The Accidental Highwayman, I would characterize it as a mix of daring deeds and derring-do, of historical fiction and magical conviction.  You can read my official review here, I listened to the audio version, but would guess that the printed copy is equally enjoyable.

• You can find my review of The Accidental Highwayman for AudioFile Magazine here.
• Listen to an audio excerpt from The Accidental Highwayman here.
• Read an excerpt from The Accidental Highwayman here.

To summarize:

Amidst a grim 18th century English setting arises the accidental highwayman, Whistling Jack.  Teenager Kit Bristol makes the unlikely yet unavoidable transformation from circus performer to manservant to famous highwayman tasked with the rescue of a mysterious princess from an enchanted coach.  Narrator Steve West employs the English "standard accent" for his presentation of the gallant robber.  He delivers non-stop action and suspense while maintaining an air of wise contemplation suited to this retrospective narrative of daring deeds from a magical past.

This is the first in an expected series. Judging from the effort expended on the series' official website, http://kitbristol.com , they knew right out of the gate that this one would be popular!  Enjoy the goofy trailer (there are two more on the site).

 

Note:
As a fledgling ukulele player myself, I love that Ben Tripp plays the ukulele in this trailer.

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Like much historical research, my chapter in the Britain’s Soldiers collection came about more or less by accident. It relates to an incident that I discovered in the War Office papers at in 2007. I was taking a group of History students from Northampton University to The National Archives in Kew, to help them with their undergraduate dissertations. I had a small amount of time to do some of my own research, so ordered WO 43/404. The title sounded promising: ‘A book containing copies of correspondence in 1761, relative to the Behaviour of the Duke of Richmond’s regiment & Militia at Stamford on the 15th April 1761’.

What arrived was a letter book. It immediately struck me as being unusual, as the War Office usually just kept in-letters, whereas this book copied both sides of a lengthy correspondence between the Secretary at War and various other protagonists. Something noteworthy had clearly occurred, and was therefore preserved, possibly as a precedent to inform future action. I was pushed for time, however, so I quickly photographed the whole book and returned to my students.

Four years later I finally had an opportunity to transcribe the letters. What emerged was a bizarre event. In brief, the Lincolnshire Militia was quartered in Stamford and a regiment of the regular army that was on the march approached the town. The regulars had such contempt for the militia that they marched straight in, disregarding the usual military convention that they send advance word, and proceeded to refuse any of the other courtesies that the militia attempted to offer them. The militia’s commander took such umbrage at these slights that he posted sentries at entrances to the town, ‘to prevent any armed Troops entering the Town for the future without my knowledge and consent’. When further regulars attempted to enter the town, the militia stopped them at the point of their bayonets and a fight ensued in which men were injured, and could have been killed.

This was more than a local scrap. Neither side would admit fault and so wrote to the War Office to intercede. Despite the fact that Britain was in the midst of the Seven Years War – the largest global conflict that Britain had then fought – the Secretary at War took the incident very seriously indeed, and the letter book records how the fallout preoccupied him for a further two months. The dispute even drew in the King himself, who as Commander in Chief was keen to preserve ‘that Equality and Harmony in Service which is so much to be wished and cultivated’.

I was intrigued by the story that emerged from this letter book, and a paper trail ensued as I attempted to flesh out the story with other sources. My attempts to find references to the affair in public sources such as newspapers drew a blank, and I had more luck in private family papers and local government records instead. This was not an incident that was publicly known about at the time, which perhaps explains why historians had overlooked it.

As a cultural historian, what drew me to this incident was that it was an example of people behaving oddly. It is often only when people are behaving abnormally that we get an insight into the normal expectations of behaviour that go unspoken – in this case, attitudes towards military precedence and masculine honour. I think that incidents like the one at Stamford in 1761 highlight the crucial significance of ‘polite’ and controlled conduct in the eighteenth-century military. To our eyes, the interpersonal conduct of Georgian army officers may seem terribly mannered – but this is clearly desirable when you have large numbers of men who are highly defensive of their status and armed to the teeth. Rather than just reconstructing micro-incidents like this for their own sake, therefore, it is helpful to think about them more anthropologically in order to shed light on the workings of a past society.

Headline image credit: Battle of Bunker Hill by E. Percy Moran. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

The post Soldiers, sources, and serendipity appeared first on OUPblog.

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DIANE GOODE has illustrated 55 beloved and critically acclaimed picture books, including the New York Times best seller, FOUNDING MOTHERS and the Caldecott Honor Book, WHEN I WAS YOUNG IN THE MOUNTAINS.

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Recommended for ages 10 to 14.

In the second in her series about a fashion-obsessed middle-schooler who time travels by trying on vintage clothing, Bianca Turetsky turns to the court of Marie Antoinette, who was truly a fashionista before the word was coined.  Louise, our heroine, is once again invited to a vintage sale by the Traveling Fashionista, the same store she visited when she mysteriously time-travelled to the Titanic's maiden--and only--voyage.

Louise's father, an attorney, has recently lost her job, and now Louise can't go on her French class trip to Paris.  But no worries--Louise is about to have a much more exciting adventure than a class trip.  When Louise visits Marla and Glenda's mysterious vintage shop, which is located on a street that doesn't appear on any maps, she tries on a delicate blue satin ball gown, a genuine Rose Bertin.  Although the designer's name means nothing to Louise, Rose Bertin was dressmaker to Marie Antoinette, and as soon as Louise tries on the gown, she is magically transported to Versailles.  There she becomes Gabrielle, the Marquise de Polignac, and the dear friend of a pretty blonde teenager that Louise soon figures out is the doomed Marie Antoinette.  Can Louise open Marie Antoinette's eyes to the suffering of the French people, and maybe save her life in the bargain?  And will she be able to get back to the 21st century in her magic dress?

I loved the premise of this book, since my #1 time-travel destination would be to the court of Marie Antoinette, but I could not help but be disappointed in many aspects of the execution.  Marie Antoinette was indeed the "Queen of Fashion" (see the excellent biography by historian Caroline Weber, Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette wore to the Revolution), and in that sense a trip to her court is a perfect match for this fashionista series.  But I was troubled how Turetsky plays fast and loose with historical timetables, which bothers me in historical fiction, particularly for kids, where they might not know the historical facts.  For example, although no date is given, Louise remarks that Marie Antoinette is not much older than she is, so we can assume it takes place around 1770 --the year she marries the heir to the French throne, Louise-Auguste.  Turetsky repeatedly refers to Marie Antoinette's husband as Louis XVI, although he didn't take on that title until the death of his grandfather, Louise XV, in 1774.  She also has Louise turn into the Duchesse de Polignac, a very close friend of Marie Antoinette, but one whom she didn't even meet until 1775.  Also, Marie Antoinette is depicted as being unpopular with the French people, a development that happened much later in her reign.  And when they visit Marie Antoinette's dressmaker, they come home with boxes full of clothes, which were all made to order in those days.  Perhaps some of these details are cleared up by the author in a "Historical References" section, which did not appear in my advance copy, but I think if the author wanted to include some of these characters and events that take place closer to the French Revolution, she ought to have set the story a bit later, to keep the historical timeline more accurate, even if that would have made Louise and Marie Antoinette not quite so close in age.

An element of the book that I very much admired are the abundant fashion illustrations, done by fashion illustrator Sandra Suy.  They will be in full-color in the final version, although I had to make do with black and white in my advance copy.  The style reminded me very much of the vintage Barbie illustrations from the late 1950's and early 1960's, and fit very well with the Rococo style of the 18th century clothes.

Despite my criticism of the historical misrepresentations in this book, I do think that tween girls will enjoy this time travel adventure.  For those tweens who want to learn more about the endlessly fascinating Marie Antoinette, I would recommend the recent book by Carolyn Meyer, The Bad Queen:  Rules and Instructions for Marie Antoinette, a perfect match for that age group.

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 4.5 Stars Back Cover:   The boy belongs to the Sauk tribe, the last Native Americans to live east of the Mississippi River.  He learns survival skills from other tribal members.  He witnesses the introduction of horses and the influx of white men using steel traps instead of wood and rawhide snares to capture fur-bearing animals.  [...]

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Recommended for ages 10 and up.

I've had this book on my radar for a while, and had been waiting patiently for one of my many local libraries to purchase it so I could check it out.  My patience finally ran out, and I decided to buy it myself.  Frankly, this is such an important story that I think it's a must buy for school and public libraries and am disappointed that it seems to have escaped the notice of so many of the public libraries near me.  The book has been getting some Newbery buzz from the blogosphere (which probably doesn't mean much, given recent Newbery history!), but it would also be a great candidate for the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction or the Coretta Scott King Award as well.

I get tired of our founding fathers being treated like saints, particularly in literature for young people--they were far from it, being not only men of flesh and blood but creatures of their time.  In this compelling novel, Bradley tells the story of slave Sally Hemings' children, widely considered to be fathered by Thomas Jefferson (although some controversy persists despite DNA evidence showing that the Hemmings descendants share common traits with Jeffersons' descendants).  The story is told from the point of view of three of Jefferson's slaves--two of whom, Beverly and Madison, were his sons from Sally Hemings, and the third, Peter, the young son of another slave on the plantation who was close to Hemings' children.

Although a slave, Sally Hemings herself was three-quarters white, and a half-sister to Jefferson's wife, Martha (who is already deceased at the time this book takes place).  Her four children who survive infancy--Beverly, Harriet, Madison, and Eston--know who their father is but are forbidden to talk about it.  Their special status means they get special treatment--better clothes, better food, easier work, and even learning to read and write and getting violin lessons, and their mother tells them they'll be freed when they're 21 years old, when they will be able to live as white people.   Although they're 7/8 white, and all but one of them can easily "pass," make no mistake, they are still slaves.  When a captured slave is returned to Monticello and whipped publicly for his crime, Sally and her children are forced to watch along with all the other slaves.

As Jefferson gets older, even those in the slave quarters suspect that his extravagant entertaining at Monticello, his constant building projects, and his love for fine French wines and luxurious goods are leading to greater and greater indebtedness.  What will happen when Master Jefferson dies, and these debts have to be settled?  The precious words of the Declaration of Independence--and its enshrinement of freedom for all--a copy of which is displayed at Monticello, are surely not meant for everyone, when slaves are another form of property and can be sold away at any time.  This story ends with Jefferson's death, and a heart-wrenching slave auction in which families we have come to know in this novel are torn apart.  The novel ends with a four-letter word.  Sold.


An afterword by the author explains what in the book is based on historical fact, and what is made up.  She also explains what is known of Sally Hemings' children.  Her two daughters apparently married white men, never telling about their past, and their families are lost in history.  Madison and Eston Hemings stayed in Virginia until their mother's

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Recommended for ages 14 to adult.

I am a bit obsessed with the tragic tale of Marie Antoinette, the epitome of the doomed Queen, and I'm clearly not the only one; her fascinating life continues to inspire novels, movies, and more.  The newest novel about her is the first in a planned trilogy by debut novelist Juliet Grey.  The first novel begins in 1766 at the court of Maria Theresa of Austria, the Hapsburg empress who was Marie Antoinette's mother, and ends in 1774 with the ascension to the throne of France of two teenagers, Marie Antoinette and her husband, Louis Auguste. The next book, "Days of Splendor, Days of Sorrow," is due out in 2012, with the third part appearing in 2013.

The book is narrated in the first person by Marie Antoinette herself, much like Carolyn Meyer's recent Young Royals treatment of Marie Antoinette, The Bad Queen, reviewed here at the Fourth Musketeer last year.  Grey establishes then Maria Antonia's happy childhood, frolicking with her many siblings at the Austrian court, which was much less formal than the etiquette-dominated splendors of Versailles.  When Marie Antoinette is matched up with Louis XV's grandson, her life changes even before her marriage; she is expected to be completely transformed in order to be suitable as the Dauphine and future queen of France, from her education to her hairline to her teeth (she was even given braces, which in the 18th century sounds like some kind of torture!).

Grey paints a very sympathetic portrait of the young Marie Antoinette, totally naive and unprepared for the intrigue of the French court, where she soon becomes a pawn in a game played by the king's maiden daughters (the "aunts") who conspire against the king's low-born mistress, Madame Du Barry.  With no real friends, no privacy, and little support from her awkward husband, Marie Antoinette is expected to dominate the intricate court life, guided by conflicting advice from her mother in Austria and the "aunts."  We can't help but feel sorry for this pampered princess, who enters France on her wedding voyage from Austria to the cheers and love of the French people but who later becomes the target of their hatred and vitriol.  How this transformation occurred with undoubtedly be covered in the next two volumes of this trilogy.  

Although published for adults, this engaging book is suitable for teens as well, especially those with a strong interest in history. There is some frank discussion of sexual intercourse (or lack thereof, since Marie Antoinette's husband was unable to consummate their marriage for many years, much to the dismay of not only Marie Antoinette, but everyone at court, where everyone knew of the lack of activity in the marital bed).  My own teenage reviewer found the book "too long and too detailed," but otherwise "fun."  She gave it 3 out of 5 stars, mostly because of the length.

Grey includes a detailed bibliography of sources she consulted.

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For ages 10 and up.

Ann Rinaldi is one of our most prolific and well-loved writers of historical fiction for young people, particularly well-known for stories set during the American Revolution and the Civil War.  That said, I was disappointed with her newest novel, published in May, which centers around several generations of women in the family of General Nathaniel Greene, second in command to George Washington during the Revolutionary War.

Even the cover is disappointing, with its sad-faced model that doesn't seem to fit at all with the themes that emerge in the story (compared to the stunning YA covers that have been coming out lately, what teenager is going to pick this one up?)  The story is told in two parts; the first part is narrated by Katy Littlefield, who is 10 years old when our story starts.  She is sent to live with her worldly Aunt Catharine, whose husband is a prominent patriot.  Her aunt is a notorious flirt and good friends (or perhaps more?) with Benjamin Franklin.  Her aunt is supposed to teach her how to be a "lady," with lessons such as this:

You should know this, Caty Littlefield...we women have the right to flirt.  If it is kept a harmless pastime.  Men expect it from us. Done properly, it gives us power, and Lord knows we have litle of that...But it must be learned to be done properly.  

When Katy grows up, she marries a cousin of Uncle Greene, Nathaniel, 12 years older than she is. War breaks out soon after their marriage.  Her husband is quickly promoted to brigadier general, and she goes with him, as did Martha Washington, to live at Valley Forge, where she entertains all the gentlemen with her lively spirits, and becomes a "belle of the camp."

Rinaldi then cuts off this story and switches narrators to Caty's daughter, Cornelia, some years later on the family plantation in Georgia.  Cornelia is concerned with her mother's reputation when she witnesses her exchanging kisses with their schoolteacher, but Cornelia's problems escalate when her nasty older sister tells her that Nathaniel Greene is not really her father, but rather that her father was a lover of her mother's.  Cornelia becomes obsessed with finding out the truth about her parentage.

This would have been a more appealing novel if Rinaldi had stuck with the first part of the narrative, perhaps enlarging on the section in which the young married Greenes are at Valley Forge.  In the second half of the novel, the character of Caty suddenly changes, without explanation, to a mean-spirited flirt who can be cruel to her children and disrespectful to her husband by her actions, which to my view go beyond most people's definition of flirting.   While some of Rinaldi's fans may enjoy this book, it definitely was not one of her best.

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I’ve made myself a Kindle screensaver out of Piranesi’s Carceri d’Invenzione — etchings of imaginary prisons — and I thought I might as well share them. I think they’re pretty awesome, myself.

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