At the Sign of the Star (Meg Moore #1)

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Author(s)

Katherine Sturtevant

Publisher

Farrar Straus & Giroux

Genre(s)

Historical Fiction

Age Range

12+

Release Date

October 16, 2000

ISBN

0374304491

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The tale of a bookseller's daughter Meg Moore is the motherless and only child of a bookseller with a thriving business in Restoration London-and that makes her an heiress. She knows that someday she will have her pick of suitors, and that with the right husband she can continue in the book trade and be friends with wits and authors, as her father is. But Mr. Moore's unexpected marriage throws all Meg's dreams into confusion. Meg resists the overtures and edicts of her stepmother with a cleverness equaled only by her fierceness, but in spite of it all her rival's belly soon swells with what Meg fears will be her father's new heir. Meg seeks wisdom from almanacs and astrologers, plays and books of jests, guides for ladies and guides for midwives. Yet it is through her own experience that she finds a new matrimony with which to face her unknown future. This vibrant novel recreates a lively and fascinating historical period when women claimed a new and more active role in London's literary scene.

Editor reviews

2 reviews

"Remember always to head into the wind..."

June 11, 2007

Overall rating

5.0

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London, 1677. Twelve-year-old Meg Moore is the only daughter of a well-to-do bookseller who has brought her up to run the family business. But when her widowed father decides to marry again, Meg's inheritance--and therefore her future--are suddenly not so certain, and it will take all her wits for her to come out on top again.

Katherine Sturtevant has created a wonderful protagonist in Meg: clever, observant, frank--everything a proper English girl of the late 17th century shouldn't be, and everything a modern-day reader wants a heroine to be. At the Sign of the Star is a rare character-driven novel where every scene, every carefully-chosen word contributes to the vivid and detailed portrait of an interesting historical period and the situation of the women who lived in it. Fans of Sally Gardner's I, Coriander or Ann Turnbull's No Shame, No Fear will love this empowering tale of a girl who learns to face her challenges head-on.