Waiting for the Queen

August 12, 2013
Adult author Higgins’s first work for children opens in 1793 Pennsylvania, while the French Revolution rages abroad. Fifteen-year-old noblewoman Eugenie de La Roque has just arrived at a French settlement in America with her family, distraught after her chateau was burned to the ground. Like her countrymen, Eugenie holds out hope that the queen, Marie Antoinette, will also escape the bloodshed. Hannah Kimbrell, a 13-year-old Quaker, has been chosen to help serve Eugenie’s family, in order to support her own family. Hannah is confounded by the French refugees’ language and their condescending and spoiled behavior, while Eugenie objects to the basic living conditions and the Quakers’ simple, unsophisticated ways. When the girls witness a Frenchman’s mistreatment of his slaves, they put aside their differences and work together to build a solid community. The story shifts between Hannah and Eugenie’s well-developed and distinct perspectives, both of which strongly reflect their respective upbringings and cultures. A meticulously detailed work of historical fiction about the challenges of the new and unfamiliar, and about looking beyond oneself toward the greater good. Ages 8–13.

July 15, 2013
Everyone in New France, a village in Pennsylvania, awaits Queen Marie Antoinette's arrival--as soon as she escapes the French Revolution. The ridiculously overdressed and sadly inept nobles and their families who have fled France with little but their lives believe that their queen will provide needed civility to the village their American hirelings are carving out of the Pennsylvania wilderness for them. Eugenie, 15 and haunted by the horrors they've escaped, arrives unprepared for the harshly primitive conditions they find, and she's annoyed by her unrealistic mother's matchmaking with an unpleasant young noble. In alternating chapters, her story is contrasted with that of Quaker Hannah, who, like her father and brother, has been hired to help the French out for a year but whose faith keeps her from the subservience the noblemen demand. The French have been joined by a Caribbean slaveholder and his four brutally mistreated slaves; this provides a catalyst for a developing friendship between the two girls, in spite of disdainful Maman's rejection of the American girl and her competently down-to-earth ways. The gradual, believable changes in both girls' characters add an appealing dimension to an engrossing depiction of this little-known episode. Based on actual events and richly immersive in the feel of the period, this effort rises above sometimes-awkward exposition to create a well-rounded, satisfying historical tale. (Historical fiction. 11-14)

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August 1, 2013

Gr 6-10-Fifteen-year-old Eugenie de la Roque and her family flee the French Revolution for the woods of Pennsylvania, where their lives are very different from the elegant world they inhabited among the French nobility. Based on the true story of a group of families who sought asylum in Pennsylvania, this title vividly captures the hardships faced by the teen and her parents as they adjust to a life without luxuries. A group of Quakers guides the small band of settlers. Hannah Kimbrell is initially frustrated by the seemingly frivolous demands of the new arrivals, but she eventually begins a friendship with Eugenie. At first the two girls seem to have little in common, but a shared outrage over how a slave is treated at the hands of her owner brings them together. Alternating between Eugenie's and Hannah's viewpoints, the story is equal parts period novel and coming-of-age tale. Eugenie's growth as she begins to understand what is really important to her is beautifully and convincingly portrayed. The "Queen" of the novel's title is Marie Antoinette, and the glittering details about life at Versailles provide a dramatic contrast with Eugenie's refuge in 1793 America. This rewarding novel should be shared with confident readers who enjoy historical fiction.-Shelley Sommer, Inly School, Scituate, MA

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2013
Grades 5-8 It's a long way from the court of Versailles to the Pennsylvania wilderness in 1793, and a brutal culture shock for Eugenie, her parents, and other nobility who fled the French Revolution. Their arrival jolts young Quaker Hannah, who hires on with family to assist the expats and is expected to curtsy and act subservient to the royals. Higgins bases her story on an actual Pennsylvania settlement of French gentry who fled their homeland. Eugenie and Hannah narrate alternating chapters, offering sharply contrasting glimpses of what the French and Americans each held dear. The French naively await the arrival of Marie Antoinette, and their superior attitudes will incense readers who will figure that the royals are lucky to have gotten out with their heads. Eugenie's and Hannah's thought processes carry the story forward as they wrestle with notions of justice and gradually come together in friendship. Eugenie's transformation may seem a bit over the top as she embraces libert', 'galit', and fraternit', but the unique setting offers a fresh look at early America.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)