A True and Faithful Narrative

This is actually the reason I picked up At the Sign of the Star (I've got this rule thingy about reading books in order). Meg, now grown up, her inheritance duly divided by the birth of younger siblings, now has a couple of tentative suitors. One, her best friend's brother, she semi-accidentally harshly spurns via a jest. Ouch. To make matters worse, this young man is captured by pirates and held for ransom. To make up for her jest-come-true (she'd asked him to bring her the story of him getting captured by pirates and escaping), she uses her skill with words to collect donations for his ransom.

The second suitor is her father's apprentice. Meg swears that if she must marry, she'd prefer a bookseller, but her best friend warns her to not treat marriage lightly. This suitor helps her collect the necessary money, and the first young man is duly ransomed, and returns. The first suitor then claims that he is not a suitor anymore, but he does want Meg to write up his experience.

There's trouble, chaos, love, disappointed expectations, renewed hope, etc. A good read, as I knew it would be from the moment I lifted it from its shelf-ly resting place. I was thoroughly satisfied with how Meg grew up and the choices she made. I also understand the sensation that the first young man experienced, of traveling and in living in a strange place among strange people, and both loving and hating it, and being changed forever from it. Katherine Sturtevant is a talented writer, I look forward to more.

Blue