A Brief History of Montmaray

by Michelle Cooper

Overview

“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

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780375851544
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	03/08/2011
Series:	The Montmaray Journals , #1
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.80(d)
Lexile:	1000L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

MICHELLE COOPER has held a variety of jobs including selling ladies' shoes and working in a blood bank. But she now works as a speech and language pathologist. She specializes in learning disabilities and reluctant readers, so she's passionate about getting children and teenagers interested in books. You can learn more about Michelle and her books at MichelleCooper-Writer.com.

Read an Excerpt

23rd October 1936

Dear Sophie,

Happy birthday to my favorite little sister! I've been trying to recollect the day you were born so I can gush about it in an appropriately sentimental fashion, but I'm afraid it's all a blank. I must have been too busy pulling Veronica's hair or smearing stewed apple over my smock to notice you popping into existence. I do remember Henry's arrival ten years ago, and if you were anything like her, you were a most unattractive baby—wrinkled, red-faced, loud, and rather smelly. Lucky for all of us that you've improved somewhat with age.

Now, did the presents arrive safely? I had to go all the way to Knightsbridge for the journal, and then I got detention for sneaking off from Games, so I hope you appreciate it. You can use it to write down your thoughts. You must have plenty of them at the moment, given Aunt Charlotte's letter—I assume you've read it by now. Are you thrilled? Terrified? Well, it's all your fault for turning sixteen—you gave Aunt Charlotte quite a shock when she realized how old you'd suddenly become. She had to sit down and have an extra-large sherry to recover.

As for me, this new school is almost as ghastly as the old one. I suppose I'd been hoping Rupert would come too when I was thrown out of Eton, but his parents keep saying no, worse luck. The House Masters have finally sorted out dormitories, and now I share with three boys. Two are in the Rugby First XV, ugh. The other has noxious feet and learns the bagpipes, so is nearly as bad. I have already had two detentions, one for missing Games on Saturday and one for not doing Latin prep. The Latin prep wasn't my fault. I didn't know there was any prep because the Latin Master told us about it in Latin and I didn't understand a word he said.

Remember, I am in MarchHare House, so please make sure you put that on the address when you write, otherwise the letters might get lost. It's a good House to be in because it inevitably comes last in the House Cup, so no one cares much when I lose House points. The other good thing about MarchHare is that we can climb out the top-story windows onto the roof and look into the hospital next door, which is very educational. Also, sometimes the nurses come out onto a balcony to smoke, and they throw us a cigarette if we beg nicely.

It's almost lights-out, so I'd better finish. Tell Veronica to come and live in my trunk so she can secretly do my Latin prep for me. She could write my History essay as well, it is on the Restoration. And ask her to bring Carlos with her so he can eat the bagpipes.

Love from your wonderful brother,

Toby


As usual, Toby's letter was coded in Kernetin, which Toby and my cousin Veronica and I invented years ago so we could write notes to each other without the grown-ups being able to read them. Kernetin is based on Cornish and Latin, with some Greek letters and random meaningless squiggles thrown in to be extra-confusing. Also, it is boustrophedonic (I adore that word and try to say it as often as possible, but unfortunately it hasn't many everyday uses). "Boustrophedonic" means you read one line left to right, then the next right to left. Veronica can translate Kernetin straight off the page into English, but I find it easier to write it out, so there it is, my first entry in my new journal. It has a hundred blank pages thick as parchment, and a morocco binding, and is almost too lovely to write in.

I did get some superb birthday presents this year. Veronica gave me a pen with my initials on it. From my little sister, Henry, came a new Pride and Prejudice, because I dropped my old one in the bath and it hasn't been the same since. (Henry, who wishes she'd been born a boy, looked quite disappointed when I opened the journal from Toby—she'd probably told him to get me one of those pocketknives with attached magnifying glass, screwdriver, and fish-scaler, hoping that I'd then lend it to her.) The villagers presented me with a honey-spice cake, a lavender pillow, and a beautiful comb carved out of driftwood. Uncle John doesn't even know what year it is, let alone the date, so I never expect so much as a "Happy birthday" from him, but Rebecca, our housekeeper, gave me the day off from washing up the breakfast dishes. Even Carlos, our Portuguese water dog, managed a birthday card, signed with an inky paw-print (now I understand why Henry was being so secretive yesterday and how the bathtub ended up with all those black streaks).

And then there was Aunt Charlotte! I opened her letter long after breakfast was over because I couldn't imagine her approving of anything as indulgent as birthdays, but that turned out to be the most exciting part of the whole morning. I won't copy it all out, most of it being her usual scoldings about our idle, extravagant lives here on Montmaray, and do we think she's made of money, and so on. But here is the important part:


._._._and now that you are sixteen, Sophia, I am reminded yet again of the sad burden I have been forced to bear since my youngest brother and his wife were so cruelly torn from this world, God rest their souls. My only comfort is knowing how grateful Robert and Jane would be if they could see all that I have done for you children.

However, my responsibilities are not yet complete, and your mother in particular, Sophia, would have wanted you to be given the same social opportunities she had. As for Veronica, it is not her fault that her feckless mother is who-knows-where and quite unable to make appropriate arrangements regarding a matrimonial match. I feel it is my duty, then, to sponsor your debuts into Society. We cannot postpone this event much longer, in light of your advancing ages.

I expect early in the new year would be the best time for both of you to travel to England. I leave it to Veronica to write to Mr. Grenville regarding steamer passage and railway tickets. In the meantime, I shall begin perusing the Almanach de Gotha for eligible prospects_._._.

Editorial Reviews

Starred Review, Booklist, September 15, 2009:
"A smart and stirring choice to usher fans of the Brontës into the twentieth century."

From the Publisher

A highly atmospheric setting on the invented European island of Montmaray and a memorably eccentric cast prove a standout backdrop for this adventure set in 1936. In personable, smart diary entries, 16-year-old Sophie FitzOsborne unveils her life of aristocratic poverty in a crumbling fortified castle with sharks below the rickety drawbridge, living with her unbalanced uncle the king, tomboy sister Henry, bluestocking cousin Veronica and eerily loyal housekeeper (“It's not my fault I'm a princess [albeit one from an impoverished and inconsequential island kingdom that is miles from anywhere],” Sophie moans). Cooper ably interweaves this fictional dynasty with historical fact, sketching details about the Spanish Civil War and growing Nazi power, the handful of villagers left on the island (“there are now as many Royal Highnesses on the island as there are subjects”), visits from friends from England and Sophie's longed-for debut. When German soldiers arrive, events take a perilous turn, and the revelation of long-hidden family secrets adds additional gothic undertones. Cooper's taut pacing and strong characters make this a powerful historical novel. Ages 12–up. (Oct.)\

Publishers Weekly

Gr 7–10—It's 1936, and 16-year-old Sophie FitzOsborne lives on the edge of poverty in an island castle off the coast of England. With her cousin Veronica; her younger sister, Henry; a dog named Carlos; and her reclusive Uncle John—the mad king of Montmaray—for company, Sophie spends her days helping her cousin and the few remaining servants keep house while documenting her dreams and experiences in her journal. The girls' intellects and fierce determination are put to the test when the Nazis invade their island and quickly turn their state of solitude into a struggle for survival. This book has a bit of everything: romance, betrayal, a haunting, espionage, psychological discord, intimate liaisons, and murder. Although the beginning is heavily laden with the protagonist's accounts of historical events, the mood eventually shifts to an exciting pace illustrating the heroine's adventures and courageous endeavors to preserve her family's bond and royal lineage.—Kimberly Monaghan, formerly at Vernon Area Public Library, IL

School Library Journal

Sophie is a princess living in a crumbling castle on a tiny, remote island kingdom. Upon receiving a journal on her 16th birthday, she begins the saga of a pivotal year in her life and that of her isolated, impoverished and very eccentric family. It is 1936, and the madness that has begun to envelop Europe manages to affect her world and change it forever. Along the way she experiences loss, danger and Nazis, facing it all with a previously unsuspected reservoir of courage. There is much humor as well, in the antics of tomboy sister Henry and in the effervescence of brother Toby, who is heir to this improbable kingdom. Cooper has created a strong cast of odd, interesting characters and makes even the strangeness of the setting and events seem completely plausible. The author consciously echoes elements of Dodie Smith's classic I Capture the Castle, but it is no mere copy. There is romance, adventure, a touch of the supernatural and a winning heroine who will touch the heart. Compelling. (Fiction. YA)

Kirkus Reviews

In a graceful blending of fact and fiction, Cooper creates a cast of quirky royals who've fallen on hard times. It's 1936. The Nazis are becoming a world force, and 16-year-old Princess Sophie is stuck in the family's "fortified house," on an island kingdom in the middle of the Bay of Biscay, halfway between France and Spain. Emma Bering offers a sweet narration of Sophie's journal entries about highly
“un-aristocratic” drudgery, romantic daydreams, dark suspicions, and the surprise presence of some very real Nazis. Bering's childlike voice adds charm to Sophie's spirited observations of her tomboy sister, Henry; brother, Toby; handsome Simon; and brilliant cousin, Veronica. Once young listeners overcome the story’s lengthy exposition in the early parts, they'll find themselves caught up in a thrilling adventure. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2010 - AudioFile