Customer Reviews

A Murder For Her Majesty (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition)

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

You travel back to the time of Queen Elizabeth I. Alice Tuckfield witnesses her father's murder and is now in fear for her own life. Where can a young girl alone in the 16th century hide? How can she disappear? I just love this book and plan to reread it this summer. This story is full of music and history and sends you back to another place and time. An interesting look at life in the cathedral choirs. It makes me want to visit York someday. If you get hooked on the time period you can go on and read King of Shadows by Susan Cooper (love it) and The Shakespeare Stealer series by Gary Blackwell.

'A Murder For Her Majesty', deals with a young girl who witnesses the murder of her father and must deal with men who conspire to murder her in turn. The novel is a wonderful combination of suspense and heart; Alice Tuckfield's journey in discovering who she is and where she belongs as well as all the people she encounters along the way will appeal to all readers of all ages. The book is well-written and extremely fast-paced, a great solution for boredom and leaving readers wishing for a sequel.

Alice Tuckfield has a real problem- her father is dead- murdered by agents of the queen and she needs a safe place to hide. Luckily, she stumbles onto some boys who sing in the cathederal choir. Communal life suits hiding her among them- even the choirmaster doesn't notice her for a week. But Alice overhears conversations and knows that her father's murderers are connected to the catherderal. This book is great for introducing students to life in the 16th century- the school work, the ways of church and society. Also Alice is a fine heroine- the action is slow at first but it picks up quickly.

The book was an engrossing and enjoyable read, with sympathetic characters and, as discussed by previous reviewers, a lovely depiction of the joys of making and listening to music. However, if you're looking for historical fiction to illuminate Elizabethan England, this is most definitely not the book for you. There is so little of the period in it that it could be happening any time from the late Middle Ages to the Victorian era. As a most basic example, Alice is referred to throughout as a "girl", rather than a "maid"! (At least the author avoids the pitfall of having her characters speak in modern slang.) If you're looking for a good book that will give you a feel of life in Elizabethan times, I'd recommend A Traveller in Time, by Alison Uttley. So enjoy -- but don't expect a history lesson along with your enjoyment.

I first read this book in fifth grade (now I'm a college student), and the next year I signed up for choir. I've been singing ever since! The descriptions of music opened up a whole other world I'd never particularly thought about, and without which my life would be immeasurably poorer. And if you're a kid reading this, please don't dismiss it because I make it sound boring and educational--it's really exciting!

A Murder for Her Majesty is exciting but completely unreliable as a historical novel. It is full of major and minor anachronisms: the choir sings carols that weren't written till the 19th century; York Minster uses an order of service appropriate to late 20th century American Episcopal churches but totally inaccurate for Elizabethan ritual; the political organization of the church ("the Queen could not appoint bishops herself") is completely backwards--bishops WERE, in fact, appointed by the Queen--Alice is portrayed as eating a potato and drinking tea, both of which were not in the English diet till 100 or more years later; there are house numbers (a 19th century invention) and on and on and on. It's outrageous not only that the author's own research was so sloppy but that nobody anywhere along the editorial process caught any of this. What's the use of a historical novel if the history it teaches is so utterly inaccurate?

I absolutely love this book! I read it the first time at the age of about 11 when I picked it up from the school library and have since acquired my own copy and read it 1-2 times a year (I am now 21 years old.) I think the main reason why it appeals to me is because the story centers around a church choir and I myself was in a church choir for years and I loved it! I loved singing the beautiful church hymns, I loved singing in harmony, I loved listening to the beautiful organ music, I loved exploring the church; all things that the main character Alice loves and that are described so accurately in the book. Also I like the fact that its set in the past - now I know a lot of the reviewers have put to light the fact that there are many historical inaccuracies, but I like it. As long as I get the sense that we're in a time where they use horse-drawn carriages and candles I'm very happy! I personally don't need the story to be hampered by descriptions of any kind just in order to set a specific historical time period, I just want to read about what happens with Alice. Every time I read this book I get transported back to a magical time and I imagine switching places with Alice and what it would be like if I were the heroine of this book. Oh, how I wish you could disappear into a book.
But if you have ever sung in a church choir and you enjoyed it then you should definitely read this book. Beth Hilgartner captures the life and spirit of a church choir perfectly, it's uncanny!

A Murder for Her Majesty doesn't waste time getting started. Right in the first chapter, Alice is running away from home, and gets brought in by a group of choirboys, who decide to hide her in their house and even come up with a plan to disguise her as one of them. It's through flashback and background information that we find out how she got there.

Alice had witnessed her father being murdered by two men, who claimed to be working for the Queen of England. Scared for her life, she heads off to London and arrives at a cathedral, only to learn to her horror that the criminals have arrived there as well; in fact, they work there.

Now she's in even more danger, as she's a member of the very choir of that cathedral, with murderers at high positions of power. Luckily for her, not all of them know what she looks like, even when they see her looking them right in the face. But complications arise, bringing with them many close calls, before things really do get bad for Alice.

The story moved faster than I was expecting for a 240-page book. Something that advances the plot and especially the suspense occurs in just about every chapter. In fact, I went from reading about 25 or 50 pages a day, to finishing off the last 140 pages in my last day of reading the book. The suspense and pacing had just ramped up to the point where I just had to keep going. Definitely the sign of a good read!

The characters come alive pretty well, too. Each of the choirboys Alice stays with has their own personality. Most are mischievous, though one really doesn't like the whole situation and tries to out Alice several times (before the boys discover the kind of danger she's really in). Alice herself at first felt like a tabula rasa, but over time, she showed more personality and especially defiance and anger, which tended to get her into trouble. Character flaws work well to heighten the suspense, making the characters not only entertaining individuals, but important plot-drivers as well.

In all, it was a fun book. I've read comments that the time period is a bit anachronistic, but not being well-versed in 16th century (or any century) England, I wouldn't know what was out of place. If you're able to overlook - or not notice - that, what you've got here is a fun, fast-moving suspense story.

Fast-paced, this book has great depth. My mom and younger sister both read it, while I was in the middle of a different book, "To Kill A Mockingbird". They highly reccomended it, and as soon as I completed "To Kill A Mockingbird", the next morning I picked this book up. I didn't put it down once, and as soon as I finished it I went back to the first page and read it again(it was even more interesting, since I knew everything)! That was yesterday ... and you may not believe it, but I read it again cover to cover today! I just can't get enough of it, and I wish there were a sequel! Although I will acknowledge a few historical innacuracies, it's still a great story with a great plot, with a lot of depth, and considerable character developement ... not only in Alice, but in several of the choirboys and priests. Highly recommend it ... as long as you can free up some time in your schedule for two to three hours of straight reading!

When I started reading this book I found it hard to put down. I found it so exciting with lots of things happening. At the beginning of the story Alice Tuckfield after seeing her father's death runs into a few choirboys who give her food and a place to stay for the night. The boys then think that it would be a good prank to hide her in the choir and she soon gets used to the boys and tries not to reveal that she is a girl. The rest of the book is now your turn to read and I am positive you will enjoy it.