At the Sign of the Star -- Katherine Sturtevant
Again, with the historical fiction that I actually enjoy. What's up with that lately? I found the details in this one (about medicine, astrology, literature and life in the Restoration period in general) fascinating.
London, 1677. 12-year-old Meg Moore is her father's only living child, and thus heir to his bookstore and copyrights. Though she certainly misses her mother (who died in childbirth four years ago) and her younger brother Louis (who died at age three of a fever), she is comfortable in knowing that her future is assured. As her father says:
"Someday all my books will be yours, and my copyrights, and my other interests as well. With such a dowry you need not trouble yourself about marrying an old man nor a sour one. You may choose someone in the trade, if you like, and be a partner to him as your mother was to me."
Everything changes when her father remarries. Not only is her future no longer assured -- for it is very likely that her young stepmother will bear an heir -- but Meg is now forced to learn the womanly arts that she had thus far avoided.
Yes, Meg resents Susannah. Of course she does. Yes, they clash. Of course they do. But At the Sign of the Star never devolves into a retelling of Cinderella OR heads down the plucky-heroine-proves-to-her-besotted-father-that-the-young-beautiful-stepmother-is-evil road. The characters are complex and there's a depth that I found surprising, given the length (only 140 pages!) of the book.
Highly recommended for fans of Karen Cushman, as well as for young readers who enjoy realistic family stories.