Updale, Eleanor. Montmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman? New York: Orchard Books, 2003.
Annotation: A near death experience changed his life, and gave him time in prison to devise a master plan for thievery. When Montmorency gets out, he has to become two people: a rich, high class man, and a dirty, stealing scoundrel. He must calculate every move he makes perfectly to prevent his capture by Scotland Yard. Everything he stole was familiar and recognizable items, would it be worth it, even though he can't turn a profit?
Justification for Nomination: This book was unlike any other book I have read. I found it distracting that the character had two personalities, one a rich man and the other a poor man, whom was a servant of his rich self. It was interesting, however, that the character was always in trouble, and running from the police, but was always able to get away with his schemes. It was suspenseful, and easily kept me turning the page in order to find what would happen to him next. I think this would be able to relate to young adult readers because it is suspenseful and enticing with the life of crime and the life of riches in the same book. I think it would also be interesting to them because of the split personality because a lot of people can see themselves as different people in one day. The life of crime is not something that interests me, but it was an enticing story, it was just hard for me to relate to sometimes. I was hoping that I would be able to envision myself back in the late 1800's, but this book lacked a little bit of sensory descriptors that I would have liked to have seen, maybe if these were included, I would be able to relate more to it.
I would not recommend this book because it lacked the detail that I was hoping, making it difficult for me to completely grasp it.
Genre Category: Historical Fiction
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