From School Library Journal
Grade 8 Up–Hooper takes readers to 17th-century London in this novel about Eliza Rose, who is thrown out of her house by her stepmother. The prologue, set in 1655, tells of a girl baby being swapped at birth for a boy to please the father. The novel then jumps ahead 15 years. When Eliza arrives in London to search for her father, she steals some food and finds herself in Clink Prison, with its rats, sewage, lice, and deadly fever. While begging at the gate, she encounters handsome Valentine Howard. Their paths cross often, but both realize that love cannot be between a noble and a girl from the lower class. Old Ma Gwyn, the madam of a bawdyhouse, spots her and gets her released. When she promises Eliza to a young nobleman for one night, Nell Gwyn, Ma's infamous actress daughter, rescues her. Eliza is then swept into the world of the theater and the court of King Charles II. Nell, who unabashedly is mistress to many men, aspires to and succeeds at being the King's whore. In the end, a long-hidden secret is revealed when Eliza meets her real mother. The down-and-dirty side of the city comes alive through the author's descriptions of its sights, sounds, and smells. The novel is replete with historical people, events, and details, making it an exemplary work of historical fiction. This engrossing, fast-paced novel, with its determined, well-drawn protagonist, is a winning combination of history and fairy-tale tropes.
–Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
The story begins with an English lady sadly trades her newborn daughter for the son her husband demands. Years later, the little girl, now 15 and called Eliza Rose, is in a filthy London prison. Nabbed for stealing food after being banished by her "father," who no longer wants "a cuckoo in his nest," Eliza lives the horrors of a seventeenth-century prison, until her life takes a startling turn. Acquired by Ma Gwynn to become a prostitute, Eliza is befriended by Ma's daughter, the actress Nell Gwynn. With King Charles II's eye on Nell, the fortunes of both young ladies improve, though Eliza is still too common to attract the lord who has won her heart. Hooper writes an earthy tale, rich in story and characters (some taken from history) that will hold readers with its mix of romance and raw detail. Eliza and Nell are strong female characters who use their brains when possible and their bodies when necessary. There's nothing very explicit here, but the honest, sometimes bawdy facts are plain. The fairy-tale ending is not unexpected, but still satisfying.
Ilene CooperCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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