A Brief History of Montmaray by Michelle Cooper

Sophie FitzOsborne lives in the crumbling ruins of her family’s castle on the tiny island Kingdom of Montmaray, which lies between England and Spain. She lives there with her younger sister Henry, her cousin Veronica, the housekeeper, Rebecca, and her completely mad uncle, King John. The year is 1936, and Sophie just received a journal for her sixteenth birthday. She begins by recording the events of her daily life; her desire to move to London to have her official debut, and her longing for a certain young man’s attention. Veronica, only a year older, but much more worldly wise, takes an interest in the politics of Europe and the brewing tension there. Sophie could care less, until the day that German soldiers land on Montmaray. Sophie’s journal takes a more serious turn, and so does she. She struggles to follow Veronica’s example and become Sensible, even in the face of the most bizarre disaster that Montmaray and Sophie has ever seen.

The writing was well done and told through a diary format. Sophie was a realistic character, but in comparison with her intelligent and quick-witted cousin Veronica, she seemed naïve and younger than 16. Veronica, on the other hand, was behaving and speaking in ways that made her seem older than 17. Also, Sophie was a rather flat character, while Veronica was not. In some ways the book was more about her than the narrator. The concept for the book is genius—an island kingdom that has two teen orphan girls as the main royalty figures? Honestly, the author could have taken this idea in so many thrilling directions. I almost want to steal the idea and rewrite the entire book. Have you ever felt that way about a book? If so, what book? What would you have changed?

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A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb

Helen is a ghost who has haunted for many lifetimes. She has attached herself to several different hosts over the years, and can’t figure out what is holding her to Earth while her hosts have all moved on when they passed away. Her current host is an English teacher named Mr. Brown. She discovers that for the first time in her entire time as a ghost, there is someone who can see her. Helen soon realizes that Billy, Mr. Brown’s student, is not the one who can see her, but it is James, another ghost who has taken over Billy’s body.

James and Helen are drawn together, and decide to find a body for Helen to possess too. They find a girl who goes to the same school, and Helen is able to inhabit her vacated body. Complications arise as James and Helen realize that they cannot simply begin their life together, but have to continue to pretend to be Billy and Jenny. That also means that they need to deal with the issues that caused Billy and Jenny to vacate their lives. As James begins to help Billy overcome his problems with drugs, an abusive father, and a strained relationship with his brother, Helen sees that he has started to deal with the issue that hasn’t allowed him to move on. Following James’ example, Helen helps Jenny solve her issues, and she begins to realize why she can’t move on.

Overall, I felt that the writing was fairly average. The unique plot is the piece that kept this book from being ordinary. Perhaps because I listened to the audio version, I was much more aware of phrases that were overused, for example, the narrator continually said “I was shocked.” I also felt that the narrator, Helen, did not have views towards relationships and intimacy that were consistent to the time period in which she died. I felt that the author didn’t stay true to the idea of history that she had been trying to infuse into the character.

Not my favorite book, but a very interesting concept--give it a try!

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