Sovay

Sovay is a not-so-proper eighteenth-century English girl. She poses as a highwayman, becomes involved with treasonous activities, and winds up in France, working with spies as part of the revolution, getting involved with a French soldier, and landing herself in a French jail. Bianca Amato takes her time with the complex narrative, and her pacing makes the story drag a bit. Still, the story has a wide cast of characters to enjoy--from British gentry to street urchins, from charming highwaymen to heroic French revolutionaries, from sensuous villains to rough country folk. Amato ends the book by singing a lovely version of the traditional English ballad Sovay's story is based on. G.D. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

Starred review from July 21, 2008
Rees’s (Witch Child
) evocative writing will once again sweep readers back in time to meet another of her iron-willed protagonists, Sovay, who is fashioned after the heroine of a traditional British ballad. Raised in the English countryside during the French Revolution, 17-year-old Sovay embarks on a mission to find her missing father and brother, who’ve been condemned for supporting the Revolution. Her search takes her to dangerous corners of London and Paris, where she plays the roles of highway robber, spy and socialite to gather clues and outwit a treacherous villain who desires to overthrow Britain’s throne. History buffs will relish detailed descriptions of period dress, inventions and architecture sprinkled throughout the novel, but may be most intrigued by the author’s insight into France’s shift of power after the storming of the Bastille. Capturing the romantic, dramatic flavor of late-18th-century prose (“However much she fought against it, a sense of menace, vague, but all-pervading, began to seep into her soul”) without compromising the complexity of her characters, the author creates a suspenseful tale of political intrigue and class struggle. Ages 12–up.