Synopses & Reviews
A STORY OF FRIENDSHIP AGAINST ALL ODDS, AND A WONDERFULLY RICH PORTRAIT OF EARLY AMERICA
PRAISE FOR Waiting for the Queen
French aristocrats in Early America? Quaker carpenters and housemaids? slaves in the Northeast? I never knew, but Joanna Higgins brings their story to life through three very different girls who grow into courage, wisdom, tolerance, and friendship. Their story is exciting, touching, and so real that I didnt want it to end. Neither will you.”
Karen Cushman
Joanna Higgins writes a fast-paced inspiring story of two teenage girls from different worlds, languages, and clashing cultures learning the true meaning of friendship, sacrifice, and nobility.”
John Armistead
Waiting for the Queen illuminates a time in American history that is not very well known. The characters grow in maturity through the process of bravely facing hardships and forging new friendships. I was fascinated by the descriptions of coastal Pennsylvania in the late eighteenth century, but the story does not get bogged down with the details; instead, the background information is woven through the tapestry of the lives of these two brave heroines.”
Laura E. Williams
In Joanna Higginss newest novel, young history lovers are bound to find a gripping read, told in two voices, each one distinct and each one crystal clear. The novel gives a vivid portrayal of early America, and a little known moment when Marie Antoinettes entourage arrived in the susquehanna valley looking for shelter. This historical novel has depth, immediacy, and charm.”
Liz Rosenberg
PRAISE FOR JOANNA HIGGINS
Joanna Higgins peels back the surface of seemingly ordinary lives to expose extraordinary passions.”
Janet Shaw
[Higgins] renders the experiences of her characters with a refreshingly masterful hand.”
Kirkus Reviews
Review
Praise for Joanna Higgins
Joanna Higgins peels back the surface of seemingly ordinary lives to expose extraordinary passions.”
Janet Shaw, author of Meet Kaya from The American Girl series
[Higgins] renders the experiences of her characters with a refreshingly masterful hand. A memorable experience, and a writer to watch.”
Kirkus Reviews
Higgins demonstrates an eye for telling detail, a compelling narrative voice and psychological insight.”
Publishers Weekly
Review
"Higgins demonstrates an eye for telling detail, a compelling narrative voice, and psychological insight." — Publishers Weekly
Review
"French aristocrats in Early America? Quaker carpenters and housemaids? Slaves in the Northeast? I never knew, but Joanna Higgins brings to life their story through three very different girls who grow into courage, wisdom, tolerance, and friendship. Their story is exciting, touching, and so real that I didn't want it to end, and neither will you."
Karen Cushman
Joanna Higgins writes a fast-paced inspiring story of two teenage girls from different worlds, languages, and clashing cultures learning the true meaning of friendship, sacrifice, and nobility.”
John Armistead
Praise for Joanna Higgins
Joanna Higgins peels back the surface of seemingly ordinary lives to expose extraordinary passions.”
Janet Shaw, author of Meet Kaya from The American Girl series
[Higgins] renders the experiences of her characters with a refreshingly masterful hand. A memorable experience, and a writer to watch.”
Kirkus Reviews
Higgins demonstrates an eye for telling detail, a compelling narrative voice and psychological insight.”
Publishers Weekly
Review
"French aristocrats in Early America? Quaker carpenters and housemaids? Slaves in the Northeast? I never knew, but Joanna Higgins brings to life their story through three very different girls who grow into courage, wisdom, tolerance, and friendship. Their story is exciting, touching, and so real that I didn't want it to end, and neither will you."
—Karen Cushman, award-winning author of The Midwife's Apprentice
"A meticulously detailed work of historical fiction about the challenges of the new and unfamiliar, and about looking beyond oneself toward the greater good."
—Publishers Weekly
"This rewarding novel should be shared with confident readers who enjoy historical fiction."
—School Library Journal
"A fresh look at early America."
—Booklist
"A well-rounded, satisfying historical tale."
—Kirkus Reviews
"A compelling portrait."
—Voice of Youth Advocates
"Higgins draws each character with sensitive precision.... Sci-fi writers would be hard pressed to envision as jarring a culture clash as is supplied here by early American history."
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"Deserving of readers' interest and sympathy, these two girls transform miraculously under the gifted hand of Joanna Higgins.... Occasionally poetic language and themes of true human compassion, liberty, and courage top off this remarkable historical piece for middle school and, perhaps, early high school readers."
—ForeWord Reviews
Synopsis
Fifteen-year-old Eugenie de La Roque and her family barely escape the French Revolution with their lives. Along with several other noble families, they sail to America, where New France is being carved out of the rugged wilderness of Pennsylvania. They dont know that the village awaiting them is nothing like the home theyve left behindthere are no festive balls or carefully manicured gardens, to say nothing of the luxuries once provided by their many servants.
Hannah Kimbrell is a young Quaker whos been chosen to help prepare for the arrival of the aristocrats, but Hannah wants nothing more than to be home with her mother and new baby brother. Her homesickness is only deepened by the rude and capricious demands of the newly arrived French families, who are dismayed to find simple log cabins as protection against the coming winter.
In this wild place away from home and the memories they hold dear, Eugenie and Hannah find more in common than they first realize. With much to learn from each other, the girls unite to help free several slaves from their tyrannical French owner, a dangerous scheme that requires personal sacrifice in exchange for the slaves' freedom.
Synopsis
A surprising friendship develops between Eugenie, an escapee from the French Revolution, and Hannah, a Quaker girl, when they unite in the cause against slavery in this adventuresome tale of true nobility set amidst the rugged, eighteenth-century, Pennsylvania wilderness.
Fifteen-year-old Eugenie de La Roque and her family barely escape the French Revolution with their lives. Along with several other noble families, they sail to America, where French Azilium, as the area came to be known, is being carved out of the rugged wilderness of Pennsylvania. Hannah Kimbrell is a young Quaker who has been chosen to help prepare French Azilum for the arrival of the aristocrats. In this wild place away from home and the memories they hold dear, Eugenie and Hannah find more in common than they first realize. With much to learn from each other, the girls unite to help free several slaves from their tyrannical French owner, a dangerous scheme that requires personal sacrifice in exchange for the slaves' freedom.
A story of friendship against all odds, Waiting for the Queen is a loving portrait of the values of a young America, and a reminder that true nobility is more than a royal title.
Synopsis
Intermediate Fiction $16.95
Fifteen-year-old Eugenie de La Roque escapes the French Revolution with little more than her precious dog and the clothes on her back. Along with her family, she sails to America, hoping to find glorious French Azilum amid the wilderness of Pennsylvania. But when they arrive, they discover that the village awaiting them is nothing like the festive balls or carefully manicured gardens theyd left behind.
Hannah Kimbrell is a young Quaker who has been chosen to help prepare the settlement for the arrival of the aristocrats. But in truth she wants nothing more than to be home with her mother and baby brother. Her homesickness is only deepened by the demands of the newly arrived French nobles, who are dismayed to find that simple log cabins are their only protection against the coming winter.
In this wild place away from home and the memories they hold dear, Eugenie and Hannah find more in common than they first realize. With much to learn from each other, the girls unite to help free several slaves from their tyrannical French owner,a dangerous scheme that requires no small sacrifice.
A story of friendship against all odds, Waiting for the Queen is a loving portrait of the values of early America, and a reminder that true nobility is more than a royal title.
JOANNA HIGGINS is the author of The Importance of High Places, A Soldiers Book, and Dead Center. she received her PhD from SUNY-Binghamton, where she studied under John Gardner. Higgins lives with her family in upstate New York and northeastern Pennsylvania. Waiting for the Queen is her first novel for young readers.
Photo by Christopher Higgins
Cover design by Rebecca Lown
Cover art © Elsa Mora
About the Author
Joanna Higgins is the author of
A Soldier's Book,
Dead Center, and
The Importance of High Places (Milkweed Editions), a collection of short stories. She received her PhD from SUNY-Binghamton, where she studied under John Gardner. An adoptive mother of two children, Higgins lives with her family in upstate New York.
Waiting for the Queen is her fist book for young readers.