Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake) | FICTION WIL | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | FICTION WIL | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Stillwater Public Library | FICTION WIL | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
'Tis the season to get Pink! Lauren Willig's beloved Pink Carnation series gets into the holiday spirit with this irresistible Regency Christmas caper.
Arabella Dempsey's dear friend Jane Austen warned her against teaching. But Miss Climpson's Select Seminary for Young Ladies seems the perfect place for Arabella to claim her independence while keeping an eye on her younger sisters nearby. Just before Christmas, she accepts a position at the quiet girls' school in Bath, expecting to face nothing more exciting than conducting the annual Christmas recital. She hardly imagines coming face to face with French aristocrats and international spies...
Reginald "Turnip"Fitzhugh-often mistaken for the elusive spy known as the Pink Carnation- has blundered into danger before. But when he blunders into Miss Arabella Dempsey, it never occurs to him that she might be trouble. When Turnip and Arabella stumble upon a beautifully wrapped Christmas pudding with a cryptic message written in French, "Meet me at Farley Castle," the unlikely vehicle for intrigue launches the pair on a Yuletide adventure that ranges from the Austens'modest drawing room to the awe-inspiring estate of the Dukes of Dovedale, where the Dowager Duchess is hosting the most anticipated event of the year: an elaborate twelve-day Christmas celebration. Will they find poinsettias or peril, dancing or danger? Is it possible that the fate of the British Empire rests in Arabella's and Turnip's hands, in the form of a festive Christmas pudding?
Author Notes
Lauren Willig majored in renaissance studies and political science at Yale University, studied English history at Harvard University, and received a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. She started writing the Pink Carnation series during law school. She practiced as a litigation associate at a large New York law firm for a year and a half before deciding to become a full-time writer.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
The delightful latest entry in the Pink Carnation series finds bumbling Turnip Fitzhugh in over his head when he visits sister Sally at boarding school, where a chance encounter with school mistress Arabella Dempsey lures the siblings into a complex web of espionage and derring-do. Guest appearances by Dempsey's best friend Jane Austen and characters from previous installments of the series round out the laugh-out-loud holiday-themed romance of intrigue. Readers familiar with the series will relish this newest installment and rejoice that Turnip has finally been given his due and a wonderful foil in Arabella. While readers never feel that the espionage aspect would actually put anyone in real danger, it definitely makes for an exciting story. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Set between the fourth and fifth novels in her charming Pink Carnation series, Willig offers up a holiday tale centered around Turnip Fitzhugh, the bumbling but well-meaning nobleman who is often mistaken for the English spy known as the Pink Carnation. Turnip isn't looking for trouble when he visits his younger sister at her boarding school, but when he literally runs into Arabella Dempsey, a pretty young teacher, the two find themselves drawn into international intrigue via an unlikely source: a message written in French on the wrapping of a Christmas pudding. Turnip's own limited experiences with espionage lead him to want to check it out, and Arabella agrees to go along. What seems like a frivolous endeavor soon proves to be something else entirely when Turnip learns of a missing list of English spies in France and Arabella is attacked after a school play. Forget all the Austen updates and clones Willig is writing the best Regency-era fiction today. This delectable, exciting holiday tale will appeal to longtime fans of the series and newcomers alike.--Huntley, Kristine Copyright 2010 Booklist
Kirkus Review
In this seventh installment in the Regency romantic suspense series, Willig (The Betrayal of the Blood Lily, 2010, etc.) refreshes her formula for a lighthearted and sweet holiday romance.It is Christmas, 1803, and the charming Arabella Dempsey is not looking forward to the holidays. The oldest daughter of an impoverished Bath parson, Arabella had been living in London with her well-to-do aunt. But not only has the aunt married a much younger officerthe Captain Musgrave, who had previously paid attention to Arabellashe has since made it clear that Arabella, after years of virtual servitude, will not inherit a fortune. Over her friend Jane Austen's objections, Arabella takes a teaching job in a girl's school, where she literally runs into the wealthy and handsome older brother of one of her charges, uncovering a spy plot involving encoded schoolbooks and a message wrapped rather stickily in a Christmas pudding. As the holidays begin, and Arabella's attendance is required at one last function, both espionage and romance unfold, all under the knowing eyes of Arabella's aspiring novelist friend. While Willig's series has been distinguished by its Austen-like wit and historical accuracy, its gimmick of upperclass spies in the Napoleonic Wars had grown increasingly strained. In this holiday-themed volume, Willig smartly recharges the series by stepping back in timethe action of this installment takes place between the fourth and fifth books of the series. She also changes the usual setup by substituting a goodhearted but clumsy fool as her hero. Although many assume the foppish Reginald Fitzhugh is in fact the fabled spy, the Pink Carnation, in part because of his ornate floral waistcoats, the aptly nicknamed Turnip is exactly what he seems, a sweet klutz. But a gentlemanly klutz who can win the heart of Willig's more intelligent heroine with his affable chivalry.A shift of focus away from espionage and toward Jane Austen makes for a fun, fresh installment in a successful series.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Loosely based on an unfinished Jane Austen novel, The Watsons, this holiday entry to Willig's Napoleonic-era series finds series character Reginald "Turnip" Fitzhugh and schoolteacher Arabella Dempsey stumbling across a Christmas pudding that may contain a hidden message of national importance. Willig is a talented scholar of the times as well as a gifted storyteller. Her latest will attract her "Pink Carnation" fans, readers who enjoy lighthearted historical fiction, and Austen aficionados. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/10.] (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
