Strands of Bronze and Gold
by Jane Nickerson
Strands of Bronze and Gold is a new, re-told fairy tale book. It is based on the French fairy tale of Bluebeard. I would like to come clean with the fact that I went into this book thinking that I was going to read a swashbuckling tale of pirates. It turns out that is Blackbeard, not so much Bluebeard. That did not put a damper on the excitement of this book! Sofia goes to live with her godfather, Bernard de Cressac (that is partial to redheads) in this castle like estate in pre-civil war Mississippi. She quickly develops a crush on Bernard, and that is when I start hating her. Initially, she seems to be a cookie-cutter YA character that is tedious and vapid. She wants to save Bernard from his tumultuous past, blah, blah , blah. I've heard it before. Then suddenly (around page 80), she witnesses his cruelty. "Each lash was a death blow to the infatuation I had carried for my godfather." Her illusions of Bernard are shattered and as she discovers more and more of his true character, she begins to search out ways to escape. That's when I stopped hating her! She blossoms into a courageous and admirable character. The first part of the book (while I was not a fan Sofia at the time) was beautifully descriptive and well written. The second part, was all that as well as exciting and suspenseful. Any YA author that can quote Shakespeare, Sir Walter Scott and poetry by Richard Lovelace is superb in my book! I'm looking forward to more books from Jane Nickerson! Marvelous.
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