A Brief History of Montmaray by Michelle Cooper (Alfred A. Knopf 2008), is a great young adult novel written as the diary of sixteen-year-old Sophie FitzOsborne. Sophie and her cousins are the royal family of Montmaray (population approximately twelve), a tiny fictional island that lies between England and Spain. All the parents are dead, except for one crazy uncle, so the FitzOsborne cousins pretty much fend for themselves as they care for a crumbling castle, a crazy relative, dwindling funds, and subjects who keep migrating to more prosperous locales.
Sophie is invited by her guardian, Aunt Charlotte, to come to London to be introduced at court and meet eligible aristocrats. Sophie struggles between her desire for beautiful dresses and fancy parties and her love of the wild, untamed island that is her home. Sophie is also afraid to venture out into the unknown without her trusted older cousin Veronica, an intellectual who insists on staying in Montmaray to chronicle its history and to stave off its inevitable decline. But everyone’s plans are jeopardized when two German officers land on the island, and tiny Montmaray is suddenly thrown into the conflict of World War II.
Reminiscent of Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle, A Brief History of Montmaray has romantic conflict akin to a Jane Austen novel and the brooding mystery of Charlotte Bronte. Its “scribbling heroine,” will keep you turning pages and wishing you could live in a decrepit castle high on the wild cliffs of an Atlantic island.
