The Red Necklace

Starred review from May 26, 2008
Set during the French Revolution, Gardner's (I, Coriander
) epic and tautly plotted tale engages readers from the start with its combination of romance and history, mystery and magic. Yann Magoza, an orphan, travels with entertainers who use supernatural powers in their act; Yann himself can read minds. As the novel opens, Yann and his companions are brought to a marquis's chateau, where Yann has a brief but fateful meeting with the foolish and cruel marquis's brave daughter, Sidonie, and where the marquis's associate, a scheming count, brutally but cleverly murders one of the magicians. The pace retains this thrilling momentum all the way through the heart-stopping climax. As Gardner slowly discloses Yann's and Sido's heritages, she ratchets up tension about the marquis's and the count's plans for Sido. She lards her story with intriguing details, like the red garnet necklaces left like signatures with a series of murder victims, and “threads of light” that make Yann's magic possible. The novel also paints vivid, convincing pictures of the Revolution: characters glimpse the massed thousands of Parisian women marching to Versailles, pitchforks in hand, demanding bread, and mobs setting upon suspected aristocrats. Suspenseful, complex and haunting. Ages 12–up.

May 1, 2008
Gr 7-10-As the first embers of the French Revolution begin to burn, Yann Margoza, a 14-year-old voice thrower and mind reader, watches his simple life as a magician's assistant disappear before his eyes. During one fateful midnight performance at the chateau of an overindulgent, debt-ridden marquis, a string of irreversible events unfurls. Jolted from the only world he's known, Yann becomes inextricably intertwined with the marquis's 12-year-old daughter and lecherous, treacherous Count Kalliovski. Yann struggles to make the right choices while coming to terms with his origins and unique abilities in order to save those he loves. Gardner deftly plays out the same brand of intrigue, romance, and murky intentions beautifully rendered in recent period magician films, "The Prestige" and "The Illusionist". Readers will root for Yann and Sido as they struggle toward adulthood amid the political and social turmoil surrounding and sometimes endangering them. At the book's end, Gardner provides further historical background on late-18th-century France, though most readers will find themselves wishing simply for a sequel to continue this engrossing tale."Jill Heritage Maza, Greenwich High School, CT"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 15, 2008
A Gypsy boy, Yann, and the dwarf who has raised him are caught up in drama on and off the stage, where they work with a magician and his automaton. Outside their Parisian theater, revolution is beginning to boil. Inside, the magician is murdered by the villainous Count Kallovski, who has Yann in his sights as well. So begins afinely craftedtale that crosses years and crisscrosses countries, as Yann becomes a young man with a mission: to save the lovely Sido from her heartless father, even as hestruggles with the extraordinary gifts bestowed upon him by his Gypsy heritage. If the success of historical fiction depends on how well setting and story mesh, this is a very successful book, indeed. Gardner sweeps readers into a turbulent time, dissecting eighteenth-century French society and the evolution of the revolution, from a yearning for liberty to a chaotic bloodbath. The history becomes personal when seen through the eyes ofan astoundingly rich, carefully drawn cast, whose lives are interwoven like pieces of string in an elaborate cats cradle. Scores are waiting to be settled on every page; this is a heart-stopper.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2008
Gardner (I, Coriander, rev. 11/05) again showcases her talent for rich and complex historical backdrops, here evoking the growing frenzy of the Parisian streets as the French Revolution moves toward its bloody excesses. Yann is a young itinerant magician; Sido, a young heiress held a virtual prisoner in an elegant and peculiar chateau outside of Paris. Both protagonists capture the unwanted attention of the powerful Count Kalliovski. Neither understands the danger Kalliovski represents or why he should take such an interest in them, but as each struggles alone toward freedom and maturity, pieces of the puzzle begin to emerge -- murder, jewels, and blackmail connect the two young people, as well as an unexpectedly rich inheritance. The omniscient narration extends the reader's view beyond the experiences of the protagonists to bring in a Parisian theater owner, a dwarf magician, and a dissolute marquis, among others. Indeed, the wide-ranging adventure takes Yann from the privileges of a private British education to the camps of the Romany gypsies, while Sido moves through France from convent to chateau to prison. Vivid historical re-creation intersperses with sometimes breathless adventure and a touch of prophetic Romany magic in this memorable tale of loyalty and courage.

(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2008
Gardner (I, Coriander) evokes pre-revolutionary Paris's growing frenzy. Yann is a young itinerant magician; Sido, a young heiress. Both capture the unwanted attention of powerful Count Kalliovski. Omniscient narration brings in a Parisian theater owner and a dwarf magician, among others. Vivid historical re-creation intersperses with sometimes breathless adventure and prophetic Romany magic in this tale of loyalty and courage.

(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)