THE AGENCY: THE BODY AT THE TOWER

THE BODY AT THE TOWER (THE AGENCY, BOOK 2), by Y.S. Lee (Candlewick 2010). Mary Quinn is back in this sequel to THE AGENCY: A SPY IN THE HOUSE. This time, she's disguised as a 12 year-old errand boy at the Palace of Westminster construction site to uncover the truth behind the fall of a bricklayer from atop St. Stephen's Tower. Along the way, she discovers plots within plots and finds herself having to negotiate who and what she is and wants to be...

THE AGENCY: THE BODY IN THE TOWER is another finely-wrought historical mystery, bringing to life the seamier side of a richly-imagined Victorian London. Readers will eagerly anticipate Book 3.

THE AGENCY: A SPY IN THE HOUSE

THE AGENCY: A SPY IN THE HOUSE, by Y.S. Lee (Candlewick 2010)(ages 12+). At age eleven, in 1850s London, orphan (and thief) Mary Quinn was rescued from the gallows by agents of Miss Scrimshaw's Academy for Girls. For the next six years, she studied all that was expected of a proper Victorian lady (and more).

And now, at seventeen, she's invited to join The Agency, a secret organization of women investigators whose mandate is to assist Scotland Yard. Mary's first assignment is as paid companion to the spoiled daughter of a wealthy merchant who is suspected of insurance fraud and smuggling. But along the way, she encounters secret upon secret and no one is what they appear...

Exciting, full of verve, and with a hint of romance, A SPY IN THE HOUSE offers a terrific protagonist and a fun mystery as it explores Victorian London and traditional and nontraditional roles of both men and women therein. With her background in Victorian literature and culture, Y.S. Lee provides texture and pungency without overshadowing the characters or plots.

THE FLOATING CIRCUS, by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer

THE FLOATING CIRCUS, by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer (Bloomsbury, July 2008)(ages 8-12). Thirteen year old Owen and his eight year old brother Zachary are orphans in 1852 Pittsburgh. Not long after the pair are to be sent west on an orphan train (in the hopes that they will be adopted by farm families), Owen falls out of an elm tree and breaks his arm. Fearing he'll be crippled for life, and knowing that under such circumstances he'll be useless as a farm hand, Owen concludes that the only way for Zachary to be adopted is if he leaves.

Owen absconds from the train as it's departing and ends up on a giant circus river boat. There, he's befriended by Solomon, a freedman who works as an animal keeper and general custodian/maintenance man. As the boat travels south to New Orleans, Owen is exposed to unexpected cruelties and kindnesses, and his eyes are ultimately opened to the realities of the itinerant circus life (as well as the horrors of slavery), as he comes to realize where he fits in in the world.

In this superb and bittersweet novel, Zimmer gives readers an unvarnished and textured glimpse into the world of 1852, as Owen encounters yellow fever, storms at sea, freaks, slave catchers, and auctioneers. The friendship between Owen and Solomon feels real and the characters are developed with virtues and vices alike, as the story builds to a poignant, yet hopeful, conclusion.