Status
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Description
Historical Fiction. Young Adult Fiction. Young Adult Literature. HTML:�There�s a fine line between gossip and history, when one is talking about kings.� Sophie Fitzosborne lives in a crumbling castle in the tiny island kingdom of Montmaray with her eccentric and impoverished royal family. When she receives a journal for her sixteenth birthday, Sophie decides to chronicle day-to-day life on the island. But this is 1936, and the news that trickles in from the mainland reveals a world on the brink of war. The politics of Europe seem far away from their remote island�until two German officers land a boat on Montmaray. And then suddenly politics become very personal indeed. A Brief History of Montmaray is a heart-stopping tale of loyalty, love, and loss, and of fighting to hold on to home when the world is exploding all around you. �Once in a while, a special book will cross our paths and make us grateful for life and the ability to read. I�m talking about A Brief History of Montmaray by Michelle Cooper. I�m calling her Australia�s next stroke of literary brilliance.��Viewpoint.… (more)
User reviews
A Brief History of Montmaray, apparently!
Sophia, whose journal entries comprise this brief history, is one of several princesses of the island of Montmaray. The eldest princess, Sophia's cousin Veronica, is daughter of the current--not-quite-sane--King John. Sophia's sister is the youngest princess (who'd rather be a prince, thank you very much); her brother, the prince, is away studying in England. As the number of villagers grows increasingly sparse, the girls must manage the castle virtually on their own.
Even before Nazi-related trials and tribulations enter the story, it's a captivating tale of survival, humor and grace. The girls matter-of-factly face a unique set of circumstances that, to them, are simply ordinary life. Each girl is so vibrantly portrayed and so realistic, I felt increasingly as I turned the pages they were good friends I've known my whole life. Part of this might be a testament to how deeply I relate to their circumstances, given that I was one of four siblings who survived childhood despite poverty, isolation and a parental figure whose mental illness made her more of a parental figurehead than a parent in some regards. Mostly, though, I think it's Michelle Cooper's compassionate, loving, poignant depiction of each of the girls and all the other characters of this stunning novel.
When everything goes awry even by the girls' standards, the book becomes impossible to set down. (It was merely "extremely difficult" before.) I plowed through the last 100 pages this morning before my son awakened. I rejoiced at the book's beautiful conclusion, which so comforts me given how it mirrors my own life questions at the moment, and also at the fact there are more Montmaray books waiting to be devoured by me. If only I'd checked them out preemptively!
If you don't enjoy princess tales, you might nevertheless enjoy this princess tale, and the fiercely independent, precocious princesses who make it such a beautiful, delightful tale of survival.
It has an I Capture the Castle feel to it - a coming-of-age story, a delightful narrator, an impoverished, eccentric family and a crumbling castle. It's
Sophie's account of life on Montmaray is charming and compelling, making growing up in a cold castle on a small island seem wonderful somehow despite the impoverished circumstances, absence of reliable parents, challenges of running a household, loneliness and isolation. The FitzOsbornes' indifference to certain social conventions is delightful, and the girls are independent and resourceful; their passion for their home and homeland readily apparent.
A Brief History of Montmaray has a bittersweet quality, because this existence is precarious. Princesses inevitably leave Montmaray upon marriage, and while Sophie dreams of being presented to Society in London, she's reluctant to go without Veronica, and Veronica is determined never to leave Montmaray at all. Montmaray's isolation also makes it vulnerable - it's difficult to seek help when there are accidents, crises or German trespassers...
This wonderful story left me quite impatient to read the sequel, The FitzOsbornes in Exile (which in turn has left me waiting eagerly for The FitzOsbornes at War. I'm terrified about what World War II will do to these characters - but I also think it would more than a war to stop them from being wonderful and individual.) I'm very glad to have made the acquaintance of the FitzOsbornes!
"[we're] quite alone on a small island [...] two hundred miles of storm-tossed sea between us and civilisation, a house-hold that consists of:
1. One middle-aged man of indifferent health and intermittent sanity
2. One middle-aged housekeeper, who prefers not to housekeep too much as it interferes with her worship of the man previously mentioned
3. Two girls, neither of whom can cook very well, although between them they have adequate skills in the areas of book-keeping, plumbing, dusting, historical research, laundering and story-telling
4. One ten-year-old tomboy, able to fish, swear and trap rabbits, but unable to write, make her own bed or remember to brush her teeth
5. One dog, several mad cats, numerous chickens, a dozen pigeons and far too many rats."
The characters were all decent characters. Pretty well developed, mostly likeable and easy to relate to. The writing was interesting. It was in a journal format, so a tad different from what I'm used to, but nothing that difficult to get into.
What made this an
If you really want to read the sequel (which was my motivation for reading this), then I recommend you read this book even though it's tough. But if you're uninterested...try getting it from the library.
This is fun imaginative fiction, and would be a good mentor text to use for similar creative writing/parallel world writing.
Cooper, M. (2008). A brief history of Montmaray. North Sydney, N.S.W: Random House Australia.
I think the small
Development of characters Sophia and Veronica was great.
That said, it's
*Stars: I either give 5 or none; either this is a book I will fight for, or it's not, and I only star the ones I am willing to throw down in defense of. Non-star books, please don't take offense. I am weird and my tastes are not necessarily indicative of the worth of anything.
I was really quite excited when A Brief History of Montmaray was chosen as one of our "in the spirit" reads for the Kindred Spirits group to which I belong - dedicated to the work of L.M. Montgomery, we sometimes read books that have been nominated as being "in the spirit" of that author's work, in our book-club - as I have something of an interest in Ruritanian fantasy (sometimes also styled "Ruritanian Romance"), in which non-fantastic tales unfold in imaginary kingdoms. The praise heaped on this one by most of my goodreads friends, and by group members, led me to believe that, if nothing else, it would be an entertaining read. Unfortunately, I wasn't quite as charmed as I'd hoped, although the story did pick up a little bit for me, midway through the book. It wasn't that Cooper's tale was derivative - although it could very well be, judging by the frequency of comparisons, in other reviews, to Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle (which I have not yet read) - but more that I simply didn't care all that much about the characters. I'm struggling to put my finger on the issue, but something about them - perhaps because we see them through Sophie's journal, and her narrative voice isn't very strong? - felt very distant to me.
Still, as noted, I did get involved in the end - probably because the story switched from character study to outright action - and was racing through the final section, to see what would happen. I'm also, despite my lukewarm response to the first half of this book, planning to read the sequel, The FitzOsbornes in Exile (which our book-club is also discussing), so it obviously wasn't that bad. Hopefully I will feel more of a connection to some of the characters, in the subsequent book.
It's interesting to be reading at the same time as THE EXPLOSIONIST, which also features slightly altered historical WW2 setting and a main
My reactions
I was bored, and finished only because it satisfied a challenge. I found Sophie’s musings repetitious (How often do I need to hear about how cranky Rebecca is? How handsome Simon is? How stubborn Henry is?). At first I was reminded of We Have Always Lived in the Castle but that quickly subsided. I didn’t find the underlying intrigue about Sophie’s brother and who will inherit the throne from Uncle John terribly interesting. We’re to believe they are completely isolated, with little or no modern conveniences (no electricity, no phone, no motorized boat), yet when they need help they hoist a flag and miraculously a passing ship sees it and comes to their aid.
One of my pet peeves is cliffhanger endings that “force” the reader to get the next book to find out what happens. And that is exactly what this book gives us.
I know this is a YA novel and I do cut the genre a little slack, so I’m still giving it two stars. Some of the scenes were quite suspenseful, and some of the interactions between characters not only advanced the story, but were plausible. I also liked that the young women were portrayed as strong, intelligent, resourceful and determined.
It's not the perfect book for everyone, but for those who love I Capture the Castle and Code Name Verity, it should be a very good fit. The surface is the story of three princesses living in a medieval castle (almost) on a tiny rocky outcrop in the Atlantic, among the last few
***
January 3, 2015
I'd checked the whole series out for Natasha, and since it was just lying around, I decided to pass an idle moment with it. And then I got sucked in, and read some of it aloud to Natasha, and she got sucked in, and then I had to read the next two as quickly as possible in order to hand them back over to her. Loved them even more this time.
Library copy.
Sophie shares her adventures with her older brother, Toby, younger sister, Henry (Henrietta) and cousin, Veronica, all members of the royal family of Montmaray, a tiny island in the middle of the English Channel. Each and every characters is fully and richly developed and when misfortune strikes, they band together as a family to overcome any and all adverse situations. However, no family is immune to loss when it comes to World War II in Europe and the FitzOsbornes are certainly not exempt from overwhelming heartbreak. Their loss felt like my loss, their pain was my pain, as I turned page after page to find out what happened next to the lives of those I came to love.
Michelle Cooper develops a strong and engaging world, believable in its details due to her extensive research (all consulted materials are listed at the back of each of the three books) and the way her fictional characters interact with real people from the era (such as the Kennedy children). All in all, I highly recommend all three books for anyone looking for an intriguing story from the point of view of the young adults whose lives were irreversibly changed when war was declared.