Julie Berry succeeds in her debut Young Adult novel The Amaranth Enchantment in that she imbues her main character Lucinda Chapdelaine with emotional honesty, fortitude, and humor in the face of difficulty.
Lucinda’s life so far has been one of happiness cut tragically short as her parents died when she was five, leaving her homeless, penniless, and without love. Having lived for ten years with an uncle and cruel aunt, fifteen-year old Lucinda finds her life turned upside-down when, on the same day, a mysterious and beautiful woman leaves a magical jewel in her uncle’s jewelry repair shop, a dashing young prince converses with her, and a plucky thief takes advantage of her kindness by stealing the mysterious customer’s jewel. Forced out of the house by her vindictive aunt for “stealing” the jewel, Lucinda takes this “opportunity” to visit her old home only to find that Beryl, the jewel’s owner, is the current resident. Beryl is an enigmatic woman, full of dark secrets and an aching heart, and it is in the space of the latter, in the emotional space of grief unredeemed that Beryl and Lucinda connect. It is this tenuous thread of connection that precipitates the fast-moving action of the rest of the narrative. Such a pace enables Berry to maintain an emotional buoyancy within Lucinda as she faces the obstacles along her path. In return for retrieving the stone, Lucinda is guaranteed her old home. Amidst discovering the whereabouts of thieving Peter, our young maiden runs smack dab into her worlds-apart prince and a precarious dance of flirtation and romance ensues, only to end in darkness. Uncertainties abound: for the present, can Lucinda get back Beryl’s magical stone? For the future, can prince and commoner live happily ever after? And for the past, can grief be swallowed up in love? Discover your own answers to these questions when you read The Amaranth Enchantment. Ages 9 and up.
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