Nevers

By: Sara Cassidy

Narrated by: Joanna Haughton

Resourceful fourteen-year-old Odette is on the move again, traveling as a stowaway on a cheese cart with her hapless mother, Anneline.

They are in Burgundy, France, in 1799, fleeing yet another calamity caused by Anneline (who is prone to killing people accidentally). At dawn they find themselves in a town called Nevers, which is filled with eccentric characters, including a man who obsessively smells hands, another who dreams of becoming a chicken and a donkey that keeps the town awake at night, braying about his narrow life. As Odette establishes a home in an abandoned guardhouse, she makes a friend in the relaxed Nicois and finds work as a midwife's assistant. She and Nicois uncover a mystery that may lead to riches and, more important for Odette, a sense of belonging.

The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.

©2019 Sara Cassidy (P)2024 Orca Book Publishers

Critic reviews

"This brief sojourn in an alternative 18th-century France is an unexpectedly rich one."―Kirkus Reviews

“Nevers is a marvelous and magical book with an unforgettable heroine—prepare to be transported!” (Esta Spalding, author of the Fitzgerald-Trouts series)

"Nevers is a funny story, simply told, with a delightful heroine. It has been a long time since I've read such a convincing, relevant historical novel for children."―CM: Canadian Review of Materials