A Brief History of Montmaray (25 page)
Read A Brief History of Montmaray Online
Authors: Michelle Cooper
Michelle Cooper was inspired to write her first novel,
The Rage of Sheep,
after events such as September 11, when she found that teenagers wanted to engage in discussions about religion and religious intolerance.
The first book in The Montmaray Journals,
A Brief History of Montmaray,
won the Ethel Turner Prize for young people’s literature in the NSW Premier’s Awards 2009. Michelle is currently working on the final book in The Montmaray Journals trilogy.
Visit
www.michellecooper-writer.com
for more information about Michelle and her books.
I need to set down the truth. If I write lies or if I write nothing at all, this journal is worthless.’
(
1
) How much of what Sophie says is true? How much does she think is true, but the reader finds is false? Is Sophie a reliable narrator? Her diary is a catalogue of incidents properly or improperly recalled – her imperfect memory of her mother is a classic example. (
2
). Is memory reliable?
‘Do you not know what your name means?’ he asked. ‘Wisdom.
Sophia.
What so many have searched for, so many years.’
(
3
) Is Sophia a wise person? Does she
‘become Sensible’
(
4
) or
‘a grown-up’(
5
)?
This is a rite-of-passage or
bildungsroman
novel – discuss the line between childhood and adulthood and whether Sophie reaches it.
Literary references and quotes abound in this novel, including to the works of Rudyard Kipling (
6
), Alfred, Lord Tennyson (
7
,
8
), Jane Austen and Emily Brontë (
9
,
10
); Charles Dickens(
11
,
12
); RL Stevenson(
13
); Shakespeare (
14
,
15
,
16
,
17
); Oscar Wilde (
18
) and Edward Lear (
19
). What effect did these references have on your reading?
This novel is said (by highly regarded writer Kate Forsyth) to be an instant classic. Discuss the connotations of the word ‘classic’ – and then whether you’d regard this as fitting the definition, and why.
Compare this novel to others about people living in isolation or in a world under threat or siege. What do these novels teach us about human values such as courage and loyalty? Examples include: Meg Rosoff’s
How I Live Now;
Nina Bawden’s
Carrie’s War;
Markus Zusak’s
The Book Thief.
The issues of the Spanish Civil War (
20
), of the conflicts between Communism, Fascism, Monarchy and Capitalism (
21
;
22
;
23
) in the lead-up to World War II are viewed through the prism of the FitzOsborne family and their friends. Compare the FitzOsborne family to the aristocratic Mitford sisters, who were famously divided along these political lines.
I could always argue that there’s a fine line between gossip and history, when one’s talking about kings
(
24
).’ Discuss in relation to events mentioned in the novel (such as the Spanish Civil War) and then in relation to the contemporary world (e.g. conspiracy theories about Lady Diana’s death).
Women in this novel have fewer options than today; Veronica loathes the idea of being presented in society and ‘finding a good match’, but knows that such a future is what Aunt Charlotte has in mind for Sophie and her. Do you think Veronica and Sophie will do as Aunt Charlotte expects? Isabella and Rebecca’s lives, too, have been bleakly contained by King John’s madness. Discuss the picture this offers of women’s lives in the 1930s. How and why did that change during World War II?
What is history? Who should tell it? Is Sophie’s diary a ‘history’ as much as Veronica’s researched
Brief History
is?
For a comprehensive Teaching Support Kit on
A Brief
History of Montmaray,
go to:
www.randomhouse.com.au/readingguides
You can find more information on the historical events referenced in the novel at the author’s website:
Forced to leave their island kingdom, Sophie FitzOsborne and her eccentric family take shelter in England. Sophie’s dreams of making her debut in shimmering ballgowns are finally coming true, but how can she enjoy her new life when they have all lost so much?
Aunt Charlotte is ruthless in her quest to see Sophie and Veronica married off by the end of the Season, Toby is as charming and lazy as ever, Henry is driving her governess to the brink of madness, and the battle of wills between Simon and Veronica continues. Can Sophie keep her family together, when everything seems to be falling apart?
An enticing glimpse into high society, the cut and thrust of politics as nations scramble to avert world war, and the hidden depths of a family in exile, struggling to find their place in the world.
