Saturday, October 4, 2014

The Golden Hour by Maiya Williams

Cover image for The golden hourRowan and Nina are still reeling from the death of their mother when they are sent to live with their "great-aunts" in Maine.  There they meet a set of twins Xanthe and Xavier, and with them they stumble across a strange resort where people can make a reservation to travel to another time and place.  Nina sneaks away to another time without telling Rowan, and, frightened for her safety, Rowan, and the other two follow after her into Paris in the time of the storming of the Bastille.

This is a thinly veiled ploy to teach children about the French Revolution. While in France, Rowan meets Marie Antoinette, King Louis, Robespierre, and other Revolutionary superstars.  That said, it was quite well done.  While in France, Xavier mingles with the commoners, while Rowan masquerades as a nobleman so the reader gets to see both sides of the revolution with a fairly unbiased eye. The story is not only about history. While Rowan is searching Paris for Nina, he is working out his own grief issues about his mother.  This was better than I expected and I would be willing to read the others in the series. (259 p)

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