Etiquette & Espionage

When troublesome 14-year-old Sophronia is sent off to attend Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality, she is none too happy about it. Her despair evaporates, however, when she learns that, at Mademoiselle Geraldine’s, “finishing” means learning the finer points of deceit, espionage, and assassination. Far from a stodgy old castle, the school is a giant dirigible that floats above the moors. Effortlessly blending Victorian, paranormal, and steampunk elements, Carriger offers a feast of words (flywayman, mechanimals) and names (Dimity Ann Plumleigh-Teignmott, Phineas B. Crow) to lunch on in her YA debut, which is set in the world of her Parasol Protectorate books for adults, but several decades earlier. Carriger deploys laugh-out-loud bon mots on nearly every page (“But I don’t want to be a vampire drone,” Sophronia whines to her sister early on. “They’ll suck my blood and make me wear only the very latest fashions”), and Sophronia is a capable and clever heroine. Amid all the fun, the author works in commentary on race and class in a sparkling start to the Finishing School series. Ages 12–up. Agent: Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary Agency. (Feb.)