Katherine Sturtevant

    Novels of the Past

A True and Faithful Narrative

In Restoration London, sixteen-year-old Meg Moore is something of an anomaly. Unlike other girls her age, Meg pores over books. She spends long hours conversing with the famous authors and poets who visit her father's bookstore, and even writes her own stories, laboring over every word until her hand is black with ink. Without warning, however, Meg comes to learn exactly how powerful words can be. The day her best friend's brother Edward sets sail for Italy, Meg scoffs at his attempts at romance by answering him with a thoughtless jest. Soon news travels to London that Edward's ship has been captured and he has been sold as a slave in North Africa--and Meg cannot shake the thought that her cruel words are the cause. Now Meg must use her fiery language to bring Edward home, imploring her fellow Londoners to give all that they can to buy Edward's freedom. But once Meg learns to direct the power behind her words, will she be able to undo the damage she has caused, and write freely the stories that she longs to put on paper?
jacket art © 2006 Kelly Murphy

Winner of the California Book Award for young adult literature


A CCBC Choice for 2007


Bank Street Best Children's Books of the Year


A Notable Book in the Language Arts (Children's Literature Assembly)


YALSA Best Books for Young Adults


School Library Journal Best Books of 2006


Booklist Top 10 Historical Fiction Books for Youth


A Richie's Pick


A Junior Library Guild selection


"Sturtevant once again offers readers a story depicted with great clarity and many vivid details of everyday life....Memorable."

-Booklist (starred review)


[An] intriguing, believable glimpse into Restoration London....This solid work of historical fiction stands easily on its own."

--School Library Journal (starred review)


"...beautifully detailed, authentically voiced....readers will root for the lively heroine to find her way."

-Kirkus Reviews


"Sturtevant has again crafted a carefully authentic tale....As told by the likable Meg ...Narrative is a quietly meticulous realization in microcosm of the collision between East and West as well as a musing on the mutability of destiny."

-The Horn Book