Maid of Secrets

March 1, 2013
Orphan and talented pickpocket Meg Fellowes gets more excitement than she bargained for when she is appointed spy and maid of honor to none other than Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth I in this swashbuckling tale of murder and intrigue in high places. Meg is violently snatched away from her street life as a member of the Golden Rose acting troupe and taken to Windsor Castle by the sinister Sir William Cecil. There she joins a select cadre of young girls being trained as spies and guardians of the queen's honor. This is a challenge for Meg as, although she has the power of total recall, she has never learned to read. The story plays out against a backdrop of rivalry and betrayal among courtiers vying for the queen's favor, the tricky foreign nobles she has to manage and the maids themselves, who are by turns supportive and ruthless. Meg's twin talents of total recall of speech and sleight of hand ultimately keep her in good standing with the court's powers that be, and her quick wits and loyalty to her monarch save her from a nasty fate in a flooded basement prison cell. This lively and fast-paced debut has plenty of action and plot twists to keep readers fully engaged. (Historical fiction. 12-17)

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July 1, 2013

Gr 9 Up-At 17, Meg Fellowes has been an orphan and a criminal for many years. After the queen's own men capture her, she finds herself not in the dungeon but being trained with four other maids to be part of the Maids of Honor, Queen Elizabeth I's all-female protectors. Each spy has her own skills, and Meg's uncanny ability to repeat any conversation she hears soon gets the attention of her trainer, Cecil, and the queen. However, it also puts her in a tough position when she learns a secret about the monarch's heart. Meg has also become distracted by the mysterious death of the girl who held her position before her, the dashing Count de Martine from Spain, and trying to avoid marriage. Though she finds a way to escape from the castle, she chooses to stay for her friends and for the information she has started to glean about her parents, leading her to gain the goodwill of the queen with her plot to catch a spy from Spain. This novel encompasses all the glory, excess, and intrigue of Queen Elizabeth I's reign; the issues surrounding Catholicism versus the Church of England; and the poor relationship between Spain and England. Full of adventure and romance and starring a very likable, spunky protagonist, this is an enjoyable historical read.-Clare A. Dombrowski, Amesbury Public Library, MA

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2013
Grades 6-9 In sixteenth-century London, picking a pocket is one thing, but lifting the purse of Sir William Cecil, the queen's advisor, is quite another. A thief with quick wits and a phenomenal memory, 17-year-old Meg is forcefully recruited to become a spy for the young Queen Elizabeth. Meg joins an elite group of five Maids of Honor secretly carrying out undercover work. Her first assignment, spying on a young Spanish nobleman notable for his good looks and easy charm, leads to intrigues marked by stolen kisses, mysterious letters, and dangerous secrets. Whether recounting her perilous missions or her moral dilemmas, Meg's first-person narrative is consistently engaging. Though the Elizabethan setting sometimes seems a bit thin, the characters, particularly the other secretly spying Maids of Honor, slowly become distinct, believable individuals as the story unfolds. Meg's adventure comes to a satisfying conclusion while leaving the door open for sequels. A Maids of Honor series seems planned, with the lead rotating among the five young women.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)