Ivy
If you鈥檙e going to be an orphan in a book, chances are you鈥檙e plucky, unfairly downtrodden, and live during the 19th century. If you can manage to have red hair, well, that鈥檚 just a bonus.
Although Ivy, carrot-topped hero of the new novel by Julie Hearn (鈥淭he Minister鈥檚 Daughter鈥�), grew up in a London slum that might have scared the Artful Dodger with a family that would have cheerfully stolen Oliver Twist鈥檚 gruel right out of his bowl, she鈥檚 actually a little short on pluck. How she acquires a sense of self-worth is one of the pleasures of this witty, take-no-nonsense novel for teens.
We first meet the 5-year-old waif, uncomfortably ensconced in the bosom of her family, during a hilarious opener when two fine ladies come do-gooding in her neighborhood, 鈥減icking their way along filthy streets, the hems of their crinolines blotting up slush and the beads on their bonnets tinkling like ice.鈥�
Mrs. Hortense Merryfield and Mrs. Constance Larrington get conned by Ivy鈥檚 older cousin Jared (and learn that gigantic crinolines and narrow alleyways are not a happy combination). In the process, they also decree that Ivy and her cousin Orlando will go to charity school.
Ivy lasts one morning, after which she decides she鈥檚 had enough of book learning and heads out 鈥� only to be waylaid by Carroty Kate, a 鈥渟kinner鈥� who steals the clothes off wealthy children鈥檚 backs. Kate kidnaps Ivy to work as bait to lure the rich kids away from their nannies. Despite her horrifying occupation, Kate is kinder to Ivy than her family ever was 鈥� except that she doses the little girl鈥檚 milk with laudanum at night to keep her from crying.
Then the plot jumps 10 or so years, where the teenage Ivy, again living with her family, is working as a flower girl and sleeping away her life under the influence of the laudanum, trying to forget her last days with Kate and the rest of Fing Nolan鈥檚 gang. (Her cousin Orlando is now an aspiring poet who writes precious odes such as 鈥淎 Fallen Woman Dying of Consumption Contemplates Her Ravaged Features鈥� for himself and, for money, pens epitaphs and lurid poems where he rhymes things like 鈥淓ek! Eek!鈥� and 鈥済hastly freak.鈥�)
Ivy is also, in the words of aspiring painter Oswald Frosdick, 鈥渁 stunner.鈥� He promptly hires her as his model, much to the dismay of his mother, who doesn鈥檛 appreciated being ousted as her son鈥檚 muse, and his neighbor, Victorian artist and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who famously had a thing for redheads and would like to paint Ivy himself. (Rossetti鈥檚 pet armadillos also trundle in to make a memorable cameo.)
Oswald determines to paint Ivy as Eve, complete with five-foot python. After a couple of attempts to get Ivy out of the way go comically awry, Mrs. Frosdick settles in for one final serious attempt. Ivy, meanwhile, manages to wean herself off the drug and, clear-headed, tries to figure out what she wants to make of her life.
Hearn carefully lines up a host of 19th-century romantic tropes, takes aim with her wit, and sends them all spinning. It鈥檚 also refreshing reading a novel aimed at teenage girls where true love isn鈥檛 the ultimate prize waiting at the end of an adventure.
(Not that I鈥檝e got anything against romance, but an exclusive diet can send you into sugar shock.)
In an afterword, Hearn explains that she was inspired to write 鈥淚vy鈥� because she wanted to give a happy ending to Lizzie Siddal, Rossetti鈥檚 wife and an artist in her own right, who died of an overdose of laudanum. The one she comes up with for Ivy is sure to make readers smile.
Yvonne Zipp regularly reviews fiction for the Monitor.
