"The nation's peace may depend on these wilful young ladies"
A School for Unusual Girls
By: Kathleen Baldwin
Genres: Young Adult Historical | Young Adult Paranormal | Fantasy
Posted: May 3, 2015
The Fitzwilliam parents despair of making a marriageable daughter of Georgiana so they leave her at this unorthodox school where torture implements are in evidence. The girl is desperate to get away but running off down a passage leads her to overhear two men talking about Napoleon, who is currently imprisoned on the isle of Elba and certain to plot an escape. Why are these men in a girls' school? And why are they interested in her invisible ink?
The other girls are an odd bunch, and one of the nicest is a half-Indian girl called Maya. They tell the confused Georgiana half-truths and explain that they are all bluestockings and not what society expects of dainty young ladies. There is more to the matter than they are saying, of course.
While Georgiana's arrival is confusing for both her and the reader, with a few attempts at running away and some rat- infested corridors, the wilful girl is presented with a chemistry workshop, a young male assistant, Sebastian, who works for the Office of Foreign Affairs and an assignment - to perfect her invisible ink. The dangers of inhaling chemical fumes are shown and I was pleased to see that Georgiana - who has already lived through fire and falls - is prompt to act in an emergency. However I did find the fact that the girl falls unconscious three times by Chapter Seven rather tedious, given that she never once complains of her corsets being tight which was the usual reason why girls swooned.
Sebastian is the one in peril by the end of the story and luckily for him not only Georgiana but Miss Stranje and her other pupils are determined to rescue him and fend off a disaster in the making for the peace of Europe. Thus we get to see the skills learned by the girls being put into practise when it really matters. This dramatic conclusion is well written to involve languages, lock-picking, pick- pocketing, kite-making and many other skills. A SCHOOL FOR UNUSUAL GIRLS by Kathleen Baldwin will be great fun for young adults and they may learn a lot as well.
Book Summary
A School for Unusual Girls is the first captivating installment in the Stranje House series for young adults by award-winning author Kathleen Baldwin. #1 New York Times bestselling author Meg Cabot calls this romantic Regency adventure "completely original and totally engrossing."
It's 1814. Napoleon is exiled on Elba. Europe is in shambles. Britain is at war on four fronts. And Stranje House, a School for Unusual Girls, has become one of Regency England's dark little secrets. The daughters of the beau monde who don't fit high society's constrictive mold are banished to Stranje House to be reformed into marriageable young ladies. Or so their parents think. In truth, Headmistress Emma Stranje, the original unusual girl, has plans for the young ladies—plans that entangle the girls in the dangerous world of spies, diplomacy, and war.
After accidentally setting her father's stables on fire while performing a scientific experiment, Miss Georgiana Fitzwilliam is sent to Stranje House. But Georgie has no intention of being turned into a simpering, pudding- headed, marriageable miss. She plans to escape as soon as possible—until she meets Lord Sebastian Wyatt. Thrust together in a desperate mission to invent a new invisible ink for the English war effort, Georgie and Sebastian must find a way to work together without losing their heads—or their hearts….
A School for Unusual Girls is a great next read for fans of Gail Carriger's Finishing School series and Robin LaFevers' His Fair Assassin series.
Read an Excerpt
by: Kathleen Baldwin
Tor
May 1, 2015
On Sale: May 15, 2015
Featuring: Georgiana Fitzwilliam; Emma Stranje
353 pages
ISBN: 0765376008
EAN: 9780765376008
Kindle: B00OXHDPS0
Hardcover / e-Book