Synopses & Reviews
The tale of a bookseller's daughter
Meg Moore is the motherless and only child of a bookseller with a thriving business in Restoration London-and that makes her an heiress. She knows that someday she will have her pick of suitors, and that with the right husband she can continue in the book trade and be friends with wits and authors, as her father is. But Mr. Moore's unexpected marriage throws all Meg's dreams into confusion. Meg resists the overtures and edicts of her stepmother with a cleverness equaled only by her fierceness, but in spite of it all her rival's belly soon swells with what Meg fears will be her father's new heir. Meg seeks wisdom from almanacs and astrologers, plays and books of jests, guides for ladies and guides for midwives. Yet it is through her own experience that she finds a new matrimony with which to face her unknown future. This vibrant novel recreates a lively and fascinating historical period when women claimed a new and more active role in London's literary scene.
Review
"Good historical fiction with a strong female heroine."--
School Library Journal"Working in her widowed father's London bookshop in 1677, twelve-year-old Meg loves being on the fringe of the literary world and talking with her father and their customers about books. In addition, she feels secure knowing that the business she will inherit will give her the financial freedom to marry a man of her choosing. So when her father remarries, Meg finds the adjustment difficult...Readers will end the book hoping for a sequel to this engaging story, which is set in a period little visited in historical novels for young people."--Starred, Booklist
"While Sturtevant's portrayal of the struggles of a blended family could be true today, her depiction of women's attitudes and opportunities in the Restoration period is carefully historical."--The Horn Book
"A wonderful combination of history, humor, and storytelling."--Karen Cushman, author of The Midwife's Apprentice
Synopsis
In seventeenth-century London, twelve-year-old Meg Moore is happy and content working with her widower father in his bookshop. An only child, she knows that she will one day inherit the shop and therefore have the financial stability to marry whomever she pleases. But Meg's dreams for her future are crushed when Mr. Moore announces he is to be married again: if her new stepmother, Susannah, has a son, the boy will replace Meg as her father's heir. To make matters worse, Susannah is determined to teach Meg how to be a proper lady, which takes Meg away from her beloved books, forcing her instead to do needlework and learn to cook. But it is through books and words that Meg finds another way to take control of her life-- a way that is not inherited but is a creation all her own.
Synopsis
A Booklist Editors' Choice.
A Children's Book of the Year, Bank Street College.
About the Author
Katherine Sturtevant is also author of A Mistress Moderately Fair, a historical novel for adults, and Our Sister's London: Feminist Walking Tours. She lives in Berkeley, California.
Reading Group Guide
From BookMuse
Overview:
How are our lives determined by the age and place in which we live, and how
much control do we have over our destiny? These are the questions that Meg,
a twelve-year-old bookseller's daughter living in late 17th-century London,
wrestles with throughout At the Sign of the Star. Meg is sole heir to
her father's inheritance, a status giving her options and choices not available
to many girls and women. But this status, as well as Meg's relationship with
her father, is fragile.What will happen to Meg if her father remarries and has
more children? In this story, rich with details of the London literary scene,
relationships are complex. Characters must jockey for good positions within
their circumstances, and their true feelings are not always known. At the
Sign of the Star successfully blends drama with history, creating a fascination
with the characters as well as the time in which they lived. (Grades 4 and up)
Things
to think about and discuss:
1. As her father is about to beat her, early in the novel, Meg thinks "it must
not happen." Although her father commands her to speak, and although it was
Meg's habit that she "talked him round on so many things," Meg "could not find
the words, could not speak." How do you understand what happens in this passage?
Did Meg want to be beaten? Did her father want to be talked out of the beating?
Why do you think both parties let the beating occur?
2. After dinner at the Gosse house, Meg sees her father walk into the room
with Susannah. His cheeks are red from port and he wears a broad smile. Meg
looks at Susannah and sees that her smile is "not so broad." She wonders for
the first time "if she had wanted him, or if she merely did her duty." What
do you think?
3. Meg's first theater experience is full of mixed emotions. Why is she so
devastated by the behavior of the other theater goers? How do you explain her
rapid change of feelings by the end of the evening?
4. What makes Meg different from most of the girls and women around her? Why
is she dissatisfied with the traditional roles of women at that time, when so
many women around her do not question them? In discussing this question, you
may want to consider Meg's "feminist" thinking. Is Meg a product of her time,
or might the author be responding to the current trend in children's literature
to create strong female role models? How does Meg compare with other strong
female characters in stories you have read?
Kids' Muse Notes
by Anji Brenner
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