Alchemy and Meggy Swann

Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman
Teen Zone New Fiction - Main Level - CUSHMAN

The year is 1573 in England. Queen Elizabeth I is the reigning queen, and Meggy Swann is an adolescent girl who has been sent by her cruel mother to live with the father she has never known in filthy and smelly London. To top it all off, Meggy is crippled and is forced to learn her own way around the vast and unknown city. “Ye toads and vipers!”

When Meggy first arrives in London, she is hopeful that her father will care about her and want a relationship with her, but she soon realizes that his true love is himself and his “Great Work.” Indeed, he spends all of his hours locked in a laboratory mixing chemicals trying to change base metals into gold. He is also trying to find the “great elixir of life” or the fountain of youth. His “Great Work” doesn’t pay much, and Meggy is often hungry and cold. Left to fend for herself, Meggy soon learns her way around the streets of London and meets some kind people such as Roger Oldham (an old helper of her father’s), Master Cooper, and Printer Allyn. Printer Allyn prints many ballads which are sold on every street in London proclaiming interesting stories and the news of the day.

In time, Meggy’s father does start to talk to her, but mostly so he can have her help in the laboratory. While this isn’t exactly the life Meggy had envisioned for herself, she does her best because her beloved Gran would have wanted her to be positive. One day however, Meggy overhears two men talking to her father about an evil plot to murder a high official in Queen Elizabeth’s court. “Ye toads and vipers!” What will Meggy do? She can’t allow her father to get involved in something so wicked and evil, and yet what can she, a poor and crippled common girl, do to stop such a plot?

Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman is absolutely wonderful historical fiction written in the same vein as Ms. Cushman’s other novels which are always about young girls who face adversity and yet find their own way to succeed. Meggy is a great heroine to add to the long list of heroines created by Karen Cushman. If you enjoy historical fiction that is richly researched and detailed, then you will enjoy any of Karen Cushman’s fantastic young adult novels!