Isabella Rockwell has lived her entire life in British Empire-era India, learning shooting and riding from her father and herbalism from her father’s housekeeper, Abhaya (also the only mother-figure she remembers). When her father goes missing, and Abhaya dies, Isabella is shipped back to Britain to find a post as a servant. Unhappy with her prospects, she runs away and ends up living with a street gang, using the cup-and-pea trick at local markets to bring in money. But when she catches a runaway horse with a rather important young girl on it, she gets caught up in royal intrigue and a possible plot against a future Queen. In addition, she must wrestle with her loyalties when Zachariah, the street gang’s leader, asks her to steal a priceless painting from the royal family. Can she save the life of her new friend? Do her loyalties lie with the Princess or with her friends on the street? And will she ever be able to make her way back to India and her home?
ISABELLA ROCKWELL’S WAR is a lively and entertaining novel about England in the brief period between the Regency and Victorian years, with a heroine who can only be described as “spunky”. Isabella is bright, active and capable, a likeable young lady whose adventures are worth the reader’s interest. One could only wish that the lonely little child who became Queen Victoria had actually had such a kind and cheerful playmate – it would have done her a world of good. There is much of the romance of the neglected fairy-tale princess in Victoria’s early life, and the author manages to capture that quite nicely. The tension between Isabella and Zachariah is intriguing and shows some potential for development in a sequel as do a few other loose ends. The plot is energetic, and the mystery has some real suspense behind it, while still being fair to the detective-minded reader, for example there are clues present which the able reader will catch, without being too obvious.
There are a few minor details that will ring false to anyone familiar with Victoria’s childhood. For a few (admittedly nitpicky, but easily researched) examples, her controlling mother would never have allowed her to befriend any other child, especially not someone of the servant class – she was never, in fact, allowed out of sight of either her mother, her tutor or her governess – her childhood nickname was “Drina,” not “Alix,” and the story entirely overlooks the most beloved companion of her young life, her adored little dog Dash. However, some of these details did need to be altered for the sake of the story, and no one who isn’t a historical nitpicker will care. Even for those who are historical nitpickers, just call it an alternate history and be done with it. The emotional tone of the portrayal of Victoria and her family is true-to-life, anyway. Additionally, the book is prone to cliché – the “spunky bicultural child trying to survive the savagery of 19th-century England” has been done before, although it’s a genre of which I for one am rather fond. Some of the other characters are also rather stereotyped (notably the stern-but-proud Indian warrior, devoted to duty but with a soft spot for a young girl from his homeland, or the cheeky young street ragamuffin who befriends the heroine). Clichés do exist for a reason, mind you, and these are not too badly done.
ISABELLA ROCKWELL’S WAR offers an enticing blend of an historical novel, nineteenth-century England, strong-willed heroines, and/or real-life fairy tales.
Reviewed by Catherine Langrehr for IndieReader