Customer Reviews

Search of the Moon King's Daughter

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This is the story of Emmaline: a teenage girl in Victorian England. The story starts with a prologue which takes place, chronologically, somewhere in the middle of the book. It's a hook, and it works.

Emmaline is a smart, talented, and genuinely compassionate girl. She, like many children of that age, has a major responsibility for her family.

The plot of the story is thus: Emmaline's father has died, leaving it to her to mother to support the family. The problem is that Emmaline's mother is not a strong person, and she's rather selfish. She's not mean, she's not evil. She's just selfish. And there are way too many parents out there like that. Within a few years, it's down to Emmaline to support her mother and younger, fever-impaired brother.

The story takes the reader from country to small city to london. The courageous Emmaline works and lives in some very strange (to us) circumstances, which are described subtly but to enough detail to make the reader understand just how horrid lives of the underclass were.

This is a wonderful story with a good, driving plot and strong characterizations. There were pieces I wanted expanded upon (the ending is too fast to me), but it is a great read.

Highly recommended.
(*)>

This really was a good book. And don't be discouraged by the fact that it says it's for ages 9-12. I'm 15 and enjoyed it thoroughly. For most of the book, the main character, Emmaline is about 16, so it's ok.
It is fairly depressing but uplifting as well! It tells the story of Emmaline, in England, as she battles to survive and take care of her deaf younger brother as her mother becomes addicted to laundanum and pawns everything they own to get money for it.
I won't give it all away, but that's the gist of it. when her mother sells little deaf Tommy to a chimney sweep for 5 years of service, Emmaline goes to London to get him back.

What I mostly liked about the book is the way that it has emmaline as a little girl and she is the one and only that's has been helping her mom and little brother sense her dad died because her mom doesn't really take good care of them because she is always on drugs or drunk.
Why I liked it? well I liked it because emmaline is a great example for all female that are always complaining about all the stuff they have to do and emmaline even if she complained she'd do it no matter what because she wanted to help her mom and her little brother Tommy.
I think that female's should read this book and use emmaline as an example like she does a lot of stuff that not even another girl her age would do because its too much to do.. and I think we can learn from the mistakes that cat (Emma line's mom) did and see the way that her life got ruined and that way we won't make the same mistake.

I came across this book on Amazon. It was one of their recommendations because of some of the other books I've read and/or purchased. They definitely know what I like! A great novel of Victorian London. 1830's London is brought to life in a very Dickens-like novel. Just when you think it can't get any worse for Emmaline, it does. Just when you wonder if she can possibly get out of a bad situation, she does. She is a very likeable character and you want the best for her throughout the novel. All the characters are well defined. I did wonder what had happened to her mother, hooked to laudanum and living with an in-law who didn't like her. In the book Emmaline wonders if her aunt has treated her mother well and we wonder the same thing without ever being told. I really think this novel begs for a sequel, with Emmaline and her friends and family living out their lives in the--opps, don't want to give too much away! Fans of historical fiction will just devour this book, as I did.

In a horrific tale worthy of Dickens, fifteen year-old Emmaline's life in a British village in 1836 spirals rapidly downward when her mother's hand is mangled in a piece of factory machinery. Her mother becomes addicted to the laudanum which eases the pain of that injury, and that addiction causes her mother to sell her little deaf son Tommy into a virtual slavery as a chimney sweep. Emmaline's long and desperate search for her beloved little brother takes her to London and provides a graphic portrayal of Britain at the beginnings of the Industrial Age.