Search of the Moon King's Daughter

This is the story of Emmaline: a teenage girl in Victorian England. The story starts with a prologue which takes place, chronologically, somewhere in the middle of the book. It's a hook, and it works. Emmaline is a smart, talented, and genuinely compassionate girl. She, like many children of that age, has a major responsibility for her family. The plot of the story is thus: Emmaline's father has died, leaving it to her to mother to support the family. The problem is that Emmaline's mother is not a strong person, and she's rather selfish. She's not mean, she's not evil. She's just selfish. And there are way too many parents out there like that. Within a few years, it's down to Emmaline to support her mother and younger, fever-impaired brother. The story takes the reader from country to small city to london. The courageous Emmaline works and lives in some very strange (to us) circumstances, which are described subtly but to enough detail to make the reader understand just how horrid lives of the underclass were. This is a wonderful story with a good, driving plot and strong characterizations. There were pieces I wanted expanded upon (the ending is too fast to me), but it is a great read. Highly recommended. (*)>

What I mostly liked about the book is the way that it has emmaline as a little girl and she is the one and only that's has been helping her mom and little brother sense her dad died because her mom doesn't really take good care of them because she is always on drugs or drunk. Why I liked it? well I liked it because emmaline is a great example for all female that are always complaining about all the stuff they have to do and emmaline even if she complained she'd do it no matter what because she wanted to help her mom and her little brother Tommy. I think that female's should read this book and use emmaline as an example like she does a lot of stuff that not even another girl her age would do because its too much to do.. and I think we can learn from the mistakes that cat (Emma line's mom) did and see the way that her life got ruined and that way we won't make the same mistake.

In a horrific tale worthy of Dickens, fifteen year-old Emmaline's life in a British village in 1836 spirals rapidly downward when her mother's hand is mangled in a piece of factory machinery. Her mother becomes addicted to the laudanum which eases the pain of that injury, and that addiction causes her mother to sell her little deaf son Tommy into a virtual slavery as a chimney sweep. Emmaline's long and desperate search for her beloved little brother takes her to London and provides a graphic portrayal of Britain at the beginnings of the Industrial Age.

Picking up this book from the library, I figured it was a fantasy about some Princess on a quest. Imagine my surprise when I found out that it was about Emmaline, an English girl living in the 1800's. When Emmaline's father dies, her mother, her deaf younger brother Tommy, and Emmaline must move away from their country home into a dirty, crowded city. Emmaline's mother goes to work in the mills, and Emmaline herself must work as a seamstress to her Aunt Phoebe. Then another tragedy strikes: Emmaline's mother is severely injured at the mills. She can no longer work and worse, she soon becomes hooked on laudanum, the pain-reliever she takes. Not only does she spend all the money Emmaline brings in on the drug, but she also sells Emmaline's few possessions and, eventually, even Tommy. When Emmaline finds that her mother has sold Tommy to be a chimneysweep in London, she goes there to find him. The only problems are that London is a big city, and Emmaline has no idea where Tommy is. Besides that, she doesn't have enough money to survive until she finds him. This is an awesome book that you will probably enjoy. It's historical fiction, but doesn't make you feel as if you've been lectured. I reccomend this book.