Strands of Bronze and Gold

February 4, 2013
After Sophia Petheram is orphaned, she is taken in by her fabulously rich and handsome godfather, Monsieur Bernard de Cressac, who wants only to please and spoil her. It’s the stuff of fairy tales, quite literally in this case: debut author Nickerson is retelling Perrault’s Bluebeard story. While familiarity with that tale diminishes some of the suspense and leaves readers ahead of 17-year-old Sophia, it also affords the pleasure of seeing how this version plays out. Nickerson makes smart use of a lush, eerie antebellum Mississippi setting to add tension: one of the things that bothers Boston-born Sophia is the way Monsieur Bernard treats his slaves. And then there are the ghosts of his former wives—all redheads, just like Sophia—and her godfather’s increasingly obvious sexual interest in her. Although the book moves leisurely, it effectively blends the fairytale world with the realities of Sophia’s powerlessness: she’s underage, impoverished, and female. All of which makes her luck,
determination, and eventual triumph all the more rewarding. Ages 14–up. Agent: Wendy Schmalz, Wendy Schmalz Agency.

February 1, 2013
A bloodless retelling of the Bluebeard tale finds its setting in antebellum Mississippi. When her father dies, 17-year-old Sophia is taken in by her godfather, the mysterious Bernard de Cressac. Sophie soon finds out that not only is her guardian a widower, but there have been three wives before the last. Wyndriven Abbey had been brought over, stone by stone, from France and rebuilt and added to, and it has a full complement of British, Chinese and French servants and plantation slaves. Sophie is first charmed, then puzzled, then frightened by Monsieur Bernard, who is mercurial in his moods and unyielding in his demands. Sophie is plucky and occasionally wise, but she also has a foil and a hope in the local minister, and she finds strength in prayer. Nickerson describes clothing, architecture, woods and gardens in lovely detail, but even though Sophie tells her tale in the first person, there is no depth or nuance. Indeed, for a story with murders, attempted rape and slave-beating, no sense of horror or fear comes off the page, nor does any sort of erotic tension or longing. The language is modern for so old a story, although the slaves and free blacks take their dialogue directly from Joel Chandler's Uncle Remus: "Laws-a-mercy yes. I loves company! Have a blessed day." The end is both predictable and partakes of a distressing white-savior mentality. Skip it. (Historical fantasy/fairy tale. 14-18)

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March 1, 2013

Gr 7 Up-Following the death of her father, 17-year-old Sophie is invited to stay with her eccentric and wealthy godfather, Monsieur Bernard de Cressac, at his beautiful but remote Mississippi mansion. At first, life at Wyndriven Abbey is idyllic, and Sophie is given everything she could wish for, but cracks soon appear in this perfect facade. Her seemingly charming godfather reveals himself to be a jealous, moody, and cruel man who isolates Sophie from the outside world and makes her a pawn in his twisted fantasies. Then there's the matter of his four previous wives: all had red hair, like Sophie's. All disappeared or died mysteriously. Sophie's only reprieve from her gilded prison are her secret woodland interludes with Gideon Stone, the nature-loving pastor she met by chance and develops feelings for. When she uncovers the murderous truth about her godfather's past, she knows she must escape Wyndriven Abbey at all costs. Nickerson makes a strong debut with this suspenseful reimagining of the Bluebeard legend that seamlessly weaves together elements of fairy tale, gothic romance, and pre-Civil War-era American history. Fans of Libba Bray's "Gemma Doyle" trilogy (Delacorte) will delight in this gorgeously atmospheric page-turner.-Alissa J. Bach, Oxford Public Library, MI

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2013
Grades 9-12 When 17-year-old Sophia's father dies, she is sent from Boston to Wyndriven Abbey, the Mississippi plantation of her godfather, Monsieur Bernard de Cressac. There, Sophia becomes more and more suspicious of the plantation slaves' living and working conditions, the vine-shrouded outbuildings she is not allowed to explore, and the various treasures belonging to Bernard's former wives, all dead, that she finds in the attic. In spite of her uneasy attraction to Bernard's increasingly romantic intentions, Sophia finds herself falling for Gideon Stone, the local minister who also has the quiet reputation among the slaves of assisting in escapes to the North. With nods to such classics as Rebecca and Gone with the Wind and a setting that may draw Downton Abbey fans, first-time novelist Nickerson adds a strictly American spin to her version of the Bluebeard fairy tale. With headstrong Sophia, handsome rake Monsieur de Cressac, and sweet, courageous Reverend Stone wrapped in a romantic love triangle; the glamorous Mississippi plantation as a cover for the somewhat sanitized horrors of slavery; and an increasingly obvious murder mystery; this will beckon readers of historical fiction, romance, and mystery alike.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)