Wednesday, May 14, 2008

The Diamond of Drury Lane: A Cat Royal Adventure

The Diamond of Drury Lane, by Julia Golding

Remember the discussion of literary crushes from a few months ago? Well, I have a new one. His name is Johnny.

This is an adorable British import and - apparently - the first in a series. I'm looking forward to the sequels.

Meet the author: Julia Golding's blog

Bonus: Cat spends a good part of the book evading the Bow Street Runners, but you can play one yourself online (via Boing Boing).

What stuck with me: The book starts off with a page of blurbs from William Pitt, James Boswell, Benjamin Franklin, and the Lord Chamberlain. How can you resist when Admiral Nelson says that he's made the book required reading for every midshipman, or Mary Wollstonecraft endorses it with "Write on, sister!"?

I also loved all the asides to the Reader, very much in the style of eighteenth-century novels.

This is a great book for someone who would probably enjoy the Sally Lockhart books in a few years, but is too young for them now. (Or, for that matter, anyone who's already memorized those, and would like Mr. Pullman to write more. :-)

Makes me want to read: The Enola Holmes books - I've heard good things about those.

Makes me want to reread: Master Rosalind, by Patricia Beatty, another story of a girl in the theater with touches of political intrigue.

3 comments:

Little Willow said...

This sounds adorable! I can't find it anywhere around here / library just yet...

Sarah Rettger said...

I'm willing to share. (Anything to keep the piles of books down!)

If you want to be the next reviewer of my copy, send me your contact info at EscritoraSarita @ gmail.

Patty Palmer said...

Hey Sarah,
Don't know if you like meme's but you've been tagged.