FlumeAward – The Stolen One Discussion page for The Stolen One.
In this well written, well told historical fiction, Kat and her sister Anna work with their mother creating magnificent embroidery and garments in Elizabethan England. They live in a rural cottage not far from Uncle Geoffrey and Christian. Christian is enamored of Kat and hopes to marry her while Anna, the quiet, deaf sister, is enamored of Christian. On one stormy night, a sickly dwarf, Jane, comes to the cottage. Known as a healer, their mother ministers to her, but Jane speaks of strange things and has torn the cottage apart looking for something valuable before she dies in her sleep. Kat has overheard accusations and realizes that her intuitive feelings of not belonging to the rural family may be true. When their mother dies unexpectedly, Kat bundles up the clothing she has to sell along with her sister and journeys to London. She leaves Christian and his wedding proposal behind as she intends to search out the truth of who she is and who she might be. What Kat finds is the political intrigue of Elizabeth’s court and the amorous attention of superficial men. But she also finds out something about herself and the honest values of her rural upbringing. This is a compelling story based in true historical mystery. The sensory images surrounding Elizabeth’s life bring the queen alive for young adult readers, while the themes of love and identity present the universality of human nature. Reviewer: Janis Flint-Ferguson
I ran out of time and only read abou 40 page of this. I couldn’t get into it, but to be fair most reviews on Goodreads LOVE it and it is not my type of genre. If we need a historical fiction selection I think we could consider this one. Like I said, it was too fanciful for me and it was about the 22nd book I read in about 6 weeks and I was very weary.
~Kathy Watson, Kimball Library