The Marquis has brought his daughter home from school at the request of the Count, although she is being kept practically a prisoner. Like a puppet master, this evil count controls the strings of both people and events that unfold throughout the story. Among the guests is the sinister Count Kalliovski. Yann Margoza is a performer and he, along with his guardian the dwarf Tetu, and the magician Topolain are brought to the chateau of the Marquis de Villeduval to perform their magic act for his guests. The story of two young people who meet on a fateful night, separate for a number of years, and then unite in a time of extreme danger. The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner is a story that unfolds against the backdrop of the early days of the French Revolution. I suspect that they might want to read this title for the same reason I did - the cover.
Titles like Scaramouche and the Scarlet Pimpernel. This is a novel that many YA's would like and perhaps could lead them to read the classics of this Scaramouche sub-genre. Personally, I think that the historical novel portions with its shades of Dickensian Tale of Two Cities could have stood on its own without the introduction of the magic. As a reader this sudden addition of fantasy elements just didn't seem to fit and created confusion for me as reader. However, this novel adds in elements of fantasy that don't seem to fit and come out of nowhere in the middle of the book. Sometimes authors have to do that in order to place the characters in the historical events when there may be no historically accurate way to do it. The author says that she deviated from the historical record in several places and I don't have a problem with that. Is it historical fiction? Is it fantasy? The historical fiction parts of the book are well done. This is another YA novel that can't quite decide what it wants to be. It enticed me to listen to the book so whoever designed it should get a raise. No matter my quibbles with the novel that cover is a winner! By itself it deserves to have 5 stars. Red Necklace by Sally Gardner has been on my TBR list ever since I saw the cover.
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