- The Red Necklace
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The Red Necklace 
First edition, 2007Author(s) Sally Gardner Cover artist Lydia Corry
(portrait of boy)Country United Kingdom Language English Series French Revolution Genre(s) Historical novel Publisher Orion Children's Books Publication date 4th October 2007 Media type Print (Hardcover) Pages 384pp ISBN ISBN 1-84255-574-X OCLC Number 148313489 Followed by The Silver Blade The Red Necklace is a children's historical novel by Sally Gardner, published in 2007. It is a story of the French Revolution, interwoven with gypsy magic.
Contents
Plot introduction
The story is principally set in and near Paris between 1789 and 1792. Yann Margoza, the protagonist, is a young traveling entertainer with the ability to read minds and throw his voice. When he gets older he finds that he can move objects with his mind (telekinesis). He meets Sido, the unwanted daughter of the cruel and foolish Marquis de Villeduval, and she helps Yann escape from the murderous Count Kalliovski, a menacing nobleman who holds the majority of the French aristocrats in the palm of his hand. He, too, has the power of telekinesis. After being educated in London, Yann returns years later to rescue Sido from the twin perils of the Terror and the Count's evil desire to have her as his bride.[1]
Character List
- Yannick "Yann" Margoza - A young gypsy boy with telekinetic powers. An orphan he is raised on the road amongst travelling entertainers, but is forced to flee to England and be raised amongst a childless couple, after his band of roadsmen are murdered by Kalliovski. Due to his grief, he loses his powers, but later regains them when he returns to France, only to find that he cannot read any other mind except that of Sido, the girl he loves.
- Sidonie "Sido" de Villeduval - The neglected, unloved only daughter of the pompous, idiot Marquis de Villeduval. She is a brave, resourceful girl who simply wants to be loved. Despite her beauty, she has a limp in her left leg due to an accident as a child, causing others to see her as "broken". She saves Yann from Kalliovski early in the novel and the two fall in love.
- Count Kallivoski - An evil, murderous nobleman and the main antagonist of the novel. He frequently distributes vast loans to financially troubled aristocrats of France, asking them for their most incriminating secrets in return, and using these to blackmail his debtors into obeying him. He joins the revolution as "Citizen Kalliovski", and uses his connections with the Marquis de Villeduval to intimidate him into giving the Count Sido for a wife.
- The Marquis de Villeduval - Sido's callous, foppish father who has bankrupted himself due to his incessant squandering of the family fortune, and owes an immense sum to Count Kalliovski, who threatens to reveal the Marquis' darkest secrets to the police unless the Marquis relinquishes Sido to him. The Marquis, caring nothing for Sido, wants rid of her, but also wishes to claim the inheritance left to her by her late grandfather in order to clear his debts. He is later driven to insanity after a mob of revolutionaries burn down his manor, and he meets his end shortly after being arrested.
The title
The title refers to the murder signature of Count Kalliovski, who puts round the necks of all his murder victims a necklace of red garnets strung on a thin red ribbon. The effect of the necklace is to make it look as if the wearer's throat has been cut.
Sequel
A sequel, The Silver Blade, was published in April 2009. It continues the story of Yann and Sido during the later days of the Terror where they face danger from the resurrected Count Kalliovski. The title refers to the guillotine and is also the nickname of Yann in his Scarlet-Pimpernel-like role.[2]
References
- ^ The Red Necklace in Publishers' Weekly
- ^ The Silver Blade
External links
- Adele Geras's review from The Guardian, February 23, 2008
Categories:- Children's novel stubs
- Historical novel stubs
- 2007 novels
- Children's historical novels
- Novels set in the French Revolution
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