Nevers


Publication Date: 1 Dec. 2019
Format: Paperback / softback

ISBN 9781459821637

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    Resourceful fourteen-year-old Odette is on the move again, traveling as a stowaway on a cheese cart with her hapless mother, Anneline. They are in Burgundy, France, in 1799, fleeing yet another calamity caused by Anneline (who is prone to killing people accidentally). At dawn they find themselves in a town called Nevers, which is filled with eccentric characters, including a man who obsessively smells hands, another who dreams of becoming a chicken, and a donkey that keeps the town awake at night, braying about his narrow life. As Odette establishes a home in an abandoned guardhouse, she makes a friend in the relaxed Nicois and finds work as a midwife’s assistant. She and Nicois uncover a mystery that may lead to riches and, more important for Odette, a sense of belonging.

    Information

    Book Type: Junior High
    Age Group: 13 years +
    Traffic Lights: Amber
    Class Novel: No
    Good Reads Rating: 3.5/5
    Literary Rating: 3.5/5

    Review

    Odette is the opposite of her mother in every way – shy where Anneline is outgoing, practical where Anneline is a hopeless romantic, and plain where Anneline is beautiful. But Odette has remained dutifully by Anneline’s side all her fourteen years. The pair have travelled the length of France, Anneline falling in love, getting married, and being widowed in one tragic accident after another.

    When they reach the town of Nevers, Anneline does something she insists on doing in each new town: she posts a message asking for more information about a mysterious letter she received years ago. The letter urged Anneline to check a lockbox under a river for information on how to get in touch with her husband’s rich family, but when she arrived the box was empty except for a note that read “I got here first”.

    As they adjust to this new town, Odette gets to know some of its idiosyncrasies: the chicken that lives in her lodging; the kindly blacksmith; the donkey named Anne who brays in Latin, but only after sunset; her new friend, Niçoise, son of the town midwife. Anneline assists the midwife in exchange for coin.

    Odette and Anneline encounter Mme. Geneviéve, an old inventor who may know something about the mysterious letter. But before she can share her secret, they are interrupted by Renard – a cad and a scoundrel, but nonetheless Anneline’s new choice of beau.

    On her deathbed, Mme. Geneviéve tells Odette the hiding-place for the book that was once hidden in the lockbox. Renard has been after this book for years, but Geneviéve has kept it from him.

    Together, Odette and Niçoise read of a duke who was transformed into a donkey and the means by which he could be transformed back. Renard almost beats them to it, but luckily Odette and Niçoise save him, and he is restored to his human form. The duke turns out to be distantly related to Odette through her birth father; the blacksmith is the brother of Félix, one of Anneline’s past husbands. A unique but loving family, united by Odette’s perceptiveness and bravery, provides an anchor point for Anneline, who finally decides to settle down.

    Told by a mysterious omniscient narrator – who is revealed at the end to be the donkey – this story has the feel of a fairy-tale or fable, but with enough twists - and a setting in post-Revolution France – to make it something utterly unique.

    This is a very unusual story told with the earthiness of the time in which it is set. The cover is a strange choice for the story, which is far more grounded (despite the magical content) than the cover image might lead you to believe.

    Themes

    twisted fairytales, French revolution, history, family, love, grief, secrets, mystery

    Content Notes

    1. Discussion of death throughout 2. Nicoise’s father was so horrified by the bloodshed in the Revolution, that he drowned himself. Nicoise can’t bear to eat fish from the Loire since, as they may have feasted on his father’s body (p85-87). 2. Discussion of birth control (p. 52). Childbirth (p. 73, 134-136). Kissing (p. 173). A baby is born with genitalia of both genders (p. 137-8). 3. Magical/fantasy themes throughout. A man is transformed into a donkey using a magic spell.

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