First
Sentence: To begin with, it was a perfect English morning:
one of those dazzling days in early April when a new sun makes
it seem suddenly like full-blown summer.
Flavia
de Luce’s mother disappeared when Flavia was so young,
she doesn’t even remember her, yet she has always naturally
longed for her. Now her mother has been found and is coming
home by train. At the station, a stranger whispers a message
in Flavia’s ear. Shortly after, he ends up dead under
the train. Suicide? Murder? A roll of film found in the attic
lead Flavia on an investigation involving Winston Churchill
and a Gipsy Moth airplane.
Bradley has such a remarkable voice. You are completely absorbed
in the story from the very first page, begins with a twist,
and then we are met with one surprise after another.
Flavia
is such a wonderful character, and so alive we can sense her
emotions. She has the brilliance of a prodigy, the naiveté
of a teen, and an insecurity which gives her the overwhelming
need to know she’s as loved as anyone else in her family.
Some readers find her rather terrifying. However, one could
interrupt Flavia as a character who has always felt outside
her family. Rather than letting this overwhelm her, she uses
her strength and her brilliance to prove her worthiness to
herself and to others. In this, she becomes a particularly
good role model to young readers.
In Undine, her cousin, Flavia has an intellectual challenger.
Dogger, a shell-shocked war veteran seems to be the one person
who understands Flavia. In this book, more of his background,
as well as his relationship to Flavia’s father, is revealed.
All
the scientific and technical information is fascinating. It
doesn’t slow the story at all. Instead, it provides
the reader with fascinating bits of information.
The
Dead In Their Vaulted Arches is a wonderful book in an
absolutely delightful series. Hopefully, Flavia will take
a long time growing up so that we have her adventures for
many more years to come.
Reviews
of other titles in this series
The
Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie #1 [review]
The Weed That Swings the Hangman's Bag #2 [review]
A Red Herring Without Mustard #3 [review]
I Am Half-Sick of Shadows #4 [review]
The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches #6 [review]
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