A Brief History of Montmaray (The Montmaray Journals)
“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...
show more
“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
show less
Format: hardcover
ISBN:
9780375858642 (0375858644)
ASIN: 0375858644
Publish date: 2009-10-13
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Pages no: 304
Edition language: English
2.5 out of 5 StarsPrincess Sophia FitzOsborne has always lived in the crumbling castle on the island nation of Montmaray with her eccentric family and villagers. Yet, sixteen-year-old Sophie chronicles her dreams of England and balls and falling in love in her diary. However, the outside world may b...
An excellent start. Very plausible and a well-integrated use of historical events. Only misstep was the gay subplot w/ Sophie's brother and cousin. The reactions all sounded very off for that time period. It would have been much more of an issue then.That said, the book did not amaze me as it did so...
Told in diary format, this is the story of a family of impoverished royalty (one of their ancestors declared an island a kingdom) making do as the last few residents of Montmaray.The first half of the book is entirely set-up, readable enough, but all too easy to put down. Then the Germans referred ...
Much of the world is captivated by the Spanish Civil War, which is dividing Europe, and King Edward VIII’s’s abdication, which allowed him to marry his divorced lover, but it’s been a long time since anyone paid much attention to the little island nation of Montmaray, isolated in the Bay of Biscay b...
A couple of weeks ago, my friend B. (who sometimes comments here as the Baroness) mentioned A Brief History of Montmaray and The FitzOsbornes in Exile as being very Maureen-y books. Shortly afterwards, I was at the library* and happened to see the first one on the shelf. So I snatched it and settled...
Log in with Facebook 
 by Michelle Cooper, now listed on BookLikes)