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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You'd never know by the title, June 30, 2003
This review is from: Search of the Moon King's Daughter (Hardcover)
Picking up this book from the library, I figured it was a fantasy about some Princess on a quest. Imagine my surprise when I found out that it was about Emmaline, an English girl living in the 1800's. When Emmaline's father dies, her mother, her deaf younger brother Tommy, and Emmaline must move away from their country home into a dirty, crowded city. Emmaline's mother goes to work in the mills, and Emmaline herself must work as a seamstress to her Aunt Phoebe. Then another tragedy strikes: Emmaline's mother is severely injured at the mills. She can no longer work and worse, she soon becomes hooked on laudanum, the pain-reliever she takes. Not only does she spend all the money Emmaline brings in on the drug, but she also sells Emmaline's few possessions and, eventually, even Tommy. When Emmaline finds that her mother has sold Tommy to be a chimneysweep in London, she goes there to find him. The only problems are that London is a big city, and Emmaline has no idea where Tommy is. Besides that, she doesn't have enough money to survive until she finds him. This is an awesome book that you will probably enjoy. It's historical fiction, but doesn't make you feel as if you've been lectured. I reccomend this book.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Incredibly Crafted Tale, March 18, 2009
A sad, shockingly accurate depiction of Victorian England in 1830 during the industrial age when the elite and upper echelon held sway and power over the lives of the poor, and wretched downtrodden.
In a Charles Dicken's like fashion, rich in detail of the haves and have nots, Holeman takes us to the gritty, nasty streets of England cities where prostitution and mill work are a few of the only options for women, where children are sold to a life of climbing into and cleaning dirty chimneys, where food is miserly given to the hungry while the rich feast on sumptuous banquets, where the help are treated miserably and the rich have carte blanche to do with them as they will.
Emmaline, her father, mother and baby brother live a calm countryside existence. Rich in beauty of character, her father teaches her the poetry of Yeats and thus, Emmaline calls him The Moon King.
When Cholera takes the life of her father, her emotionally weak mother drinks herself into denial while at the age of ten Emmaline tries her best to fend for her brother and self.
Forced to flee to a mill town, Emmaline's mother obtains work in the factory where she is maimed by a machine. Out of work and a means of income, to quell the physical and emotional pain, Emmaline's mother becomes addicted to laudanum. In a drug induced state, she sells her small son Tommy to the men who use children as labor to clean the chimneys.
Against all odds, Emmaline, The Moon King's Daughter, searches for her brother in the hope to find and save him.
Highly recommended not only because of the well-researched material throughout, but also for the beautiful story of a sister who loves her brother with all her heart and will not cease until she finds him.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Lovely Surprise, October 12, 2003
When I picked up this book from the library, I wasn't expecting much to be behind the pretty cover. Was I ever in for a surprise! Linda Holeman has created a uniquely beautiful novel that deserves to be much more popular than it is. In 1830's England, Emmaline Roke spends her childhood in a a quiet country village. Surrounded by her carefree father Jasper and an idyllic setting, she is shocked when her father dies and her baby brother Tommy's illness harms him tragically. Poverty-stricken without Jasper's money, Emmaline's mother Cat must begin a horrible life of mill work. Then her mother is injured in a mill accident-and the consequences of her accident endager both Cat and Tommy, who is the dearest thing in Emmaline's world. Intelligent, sweet, and determined, Emmaline goes on a quest to rise above her terrible life and save her precious brother. Emmaline's story is wonderfully engaging. Holeman writes with beauty and skill, and her somehow quaint style captures the essence and sweetness of Emmaline and Tommy. While in other books a similar story would be dull, this book is filled with enough characterization, fascinating period detail, and complications that it grabs the reader. Emmaline inspired and impressed me, and I couldn't wait to see what happened to her. My only complaint with the book is that the ending, although it had excellent themes, was that it seemed a little too rushed. However, everything else about "Search of the Moon King's Daughter" was completely wonderful.
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