A Brief History of Montmaray | 
The journal of 16 yo HRH Sophia (though her cousin Veronica is writing ‘A Brief History‘). Montmaray is a fictional rocky island in Bay of Biscay (off the French coast) with rough weather & only 9 people 4 of whom are royal. Set in 1936 she tells of their -unusual- everyday lives but it‘s very readable. Montmaray used to be important in treaties & whaling but lost a lot of men in WW1; now the castle is decrepit and they barely have enough to eat
pick“A Brief History” is what you‘d get if “I Capture the Castle” & “The Gentleman‘s Guide to Vice & Virtue” had a baby. 😍 “Aristocratic poverty, eccentric family members, & a scribbling heroine” (The Source), as well as pirates, queer love, & smashed gender roles. And ghosts (...kinda)! It‘s not as good as either of those books but those books are AMAZING, so that‘s not a critique, really. It‘s still wonderful. I can‘t wait to read the next one!
Oh, how I wish I knew this old Cornish prayer as a little girl! I know I would have loved uttering it as a protection spell as I stared at my glow-in-the-dark rosary beads strung from a peg on the wall, convinced of their power & terrified of their luminescence at the same time. 💖
“But even though I‘m fond of many bits of the Bible - the Garden of Eden, baby Moses in the bulrushes, the Nativity - I find it hard to believe that a real God is behind them. Isn‘t it enough that they‘re beautiful stories? Besides, religious people can be so unpleasant.”
pickLots of fun. Great for fans of fiction set during the Interwar Period. Quiet and humorous at first, but then exciting and serious during the second half. Written in the style of the time, but with the ability to comment on issues that would have been harder to discuss openly then.
