cover image The Académie

The Académie

Susanne Dunlap. Bloomsbury, $16.99 (368p) ISBN 978-1-59990-586-0

During Eliza Monroe and her mother’s year away from Virginia in postrevolutionary France, 14-year-old Eliza is sent (unwillingly) to a boarding school outside Paris, where the daughter of future president James Monroe befriends two celebrated yet conniving young ladies: Caroline Bonaparte, Napoleon’s youngest sister, and Hortense de Beauharnais, the daughter of Joséphine Bonaparte’s first marriage (before she married Napoleon). Caroline and Hortense are enemies, each attempting to use Eliza as their pawn. Caroline is in love with General Murat, while Hortense has feelings for her music teacher as well as Napoleon, her stepfather. Eliza has a crush on Eugène, Hortense’s brother, who has in turn promised himself to Madeleine, the abused daughter of an actress. Eliza becomes trapped in the girls’ schemes, learning the freedom of being ordinary and that love “is a strange and dangerous thing.” Dunlap’s (In the Shadow of the Lamp) intricate plot darts among the first-person narratives of Eliza, Caroline, Hortense, and Madeleine. The elegant work of historical fiction is laced with fluttery romances, psychological games, and surprises. Ages 12–up. Agent: Adam Chromy, Moveable Type Management. (Apr.)