City of Cannibals

Sixteenth-century London, with its squalor, stench, and bustle, is the real star of Thompson's first book, set against the backdrop of Henry VIII's break with the Catholic Church. Sixteen-year-old Dell has been taught by her drunken, abusive father that the city is truly overrun with cannibals. When he butchers her pet rabbit, Dell runs away and braves the city, seeking the mysterious Brown Boy, who has periodically left supplies for her isolated family. Though she finds no actual cannibals, London teems with dangers Dell does not understand, as the king's soldiers loot the churches and priests are executed in the public square. The Brown Boy, when she finds him, only draws her deeper into the incomprehensibility of city life. Thompson doesn't always believably balance Dell's many positive attributes—beauty, literacy, artistry—against the gross impoverishment, isolation, and brutality of her upbringing, which results in a somewhat overdrawn conflict between her innocence and the corruption of her world. Rare moments of kindness are like gasps of clean air before readers are plunged back into the fray. Ages 13–17. (Feb.)