cover image The Wolf Princess

The Wolf Princess

Cathryn Constable. Scholastic/Chicken House, $16.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-545-52839-9

Constable's fantasy debut depicts a fiercely romantic Russia, "a world made out of winter." Sophie Smith is a bored student and neglected orphan who attends the New Bloomsbury College for Young Ladies in England. Perpetually self-conscious about her impoverished roots and low social standing, Sophie is baffled when a wealthy and mysterious visitor from St. Petersburg is drawn to her, whisking Sophie (and her two friends) away on a trip to Russia%E2%80%94ostensibly to draw new students to enroll at New Bloomsbury. But the girls are abandoned at a hut in the Russian countryside and saved by Princess Anna Feodorovna Volkonskaya, who invites them to her winter palace where there are far more questions than answers. Why aren't they allowed to speak to the servants? What are the princess's motives for lavishing Sophie with attention? And, most importantly, are they guests or hostages? Constable's lyrical storytelling creates a hypnotic realm of ice, and from this mythical setting emerges a message about rising above one's circumstances and discovering a sense of belonging. Ages 10%E2%80%9314. Agent: Hilary Delamere, the Agency (U.K.). (Sept.)