Waiting for the Queen

Adult author Higgins’s first work for children opens in 1793 Pennsylvania, while the French Revolution rages abroad. Fifteen-year-old noblewoman Eugenie de La Roque has just arrived at a French settlement in America with her family, distraught after her chateau was burned to the ground. Like her countrymen, Eugenie holds out hope that the queen, Marie Antoinette, will also escape the bloodshed. Hannah Kimbrell, a 13-year-old Quaker, has been chosen to help serve Eugenie’s family, in order to support her own family. Hannah is confounded by the French refugees’ language and their condescending and spoiled behavior, while Eugenie objects to the basic living conditions and the Quakers’ simple, unsophisticated ways. When the girls witness a Frenchman’s mistreatment of his slaves, they put aside their differences and work together to build a solid community. The story shifts between Hannah and Eugenie’s well-developed and distinct perspectives, both of which strongly reflect their respective upbringings and cultures. A meticulously detailed work of historical fiction about the challenges of the new and unfamiliar, and about looking beyond oneself toward the greater good. Ages 8–13. (Sept.)