A School for Unusual Girls (39 page)
Read A School for Unusual Girls Online
Authors: Kathleen Baldwin
The Stranje House series explores possibilities. What would the world be like if King Louis had been assassinated and Napoleon had regained power? Throughout history, we run across pivotal moments like these. Moments where everything hinged upon a single act or a lone decision.
For instance, there was a button salesman peddling his wares near Waterloo. Wellington asked him to carry a message to one of his brigades that had fallen out of position. Without that button seller's help the battle would have shifted in Napoleon's favor. What if the button salesman had decided to sell his buttons elsewhere that day?
What if the French hadn't given George Washington enough money to keep the colonists fighting Britain? France's finances would not have been severely depleted and the French Revolution probably would not have taken place. The colonies would have gone the way of Canada. Slavery would've been abolished just as it was in Britain. The Northern states wouldn't have imposed export taxes on the South, thus preventing a brutal civil war.
Domino effect
.
History is rife with singular events that changed everything.
What ifs
. The historical background in the Stranje House series is partially true and partially an alternate historyâa
what if
. What if the decisions of one young woman altered the course of history?
What about you?
Have you ever experienced the ripple effect of one small decision in your life? Will your next decision inadvertently change the world?
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Kathleen Baldwin
enjoys hearing from her readers. You can contact her through her website, and also find other goodies there: book club guides, a Regency glossary, excerpts, and more extras.
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I must shamelessly steal a cliché: it takes a village to make a good book.
This series would not exist without the perseverance of my extraordinary agent, Laura Langlie. Her devotion to Stranje House is nothing short of legendary. Laura, you persisted, you never stopped believing, and you found the exact right publisher and the perfect editor for our baby. Thank you. If Miss Stranje ran a school today, she would recruit you.
Susan Chang, my fearless editorâI am in awe. Thank you for having a bigger dream for this story than I did. I didn't think that was possible. Thank you for pushing me further than I ever thought I could go. You are the perfect editor for me, which makes me the luckiest writer in the world.
My amazing friends, sisters of my heart, thank you for riding the roller coaster with me and working so diligently to polish Stranje House. You are exceptional people and I love you all. Patience Griffin, oh ye of the starred
PW
review, thank you for providing morale booster shots and indulging me when I needed cheesecake. Special thanks to Carole Fowkes, for getting out your dark crayons and shading my story world. Rae-Dawn Brightman, I'm always grateful for your amazing gift of clarity and your gentle way of questioning. Susan Anderson, kudos for magically untangling sentences. Commander Wayne Hill, thanks for wading through all the historical girly stuff in between tours of dutyâsalute! Bill Payne, we miss you, and thank you for showing us the way of the purple pen.
Elizabeth Fairchild, brilliant historian and outstanding Regency author, thank you for reading and providing historical tweaks. Nina Romberg, Gretchen Craig, and Sylvia McDaniel, dear friends, fabulous authors, and a super support system, thank you for discussing the writing life over guacamole and chips.
Credit and appreciation go to Jim Griffin for researching the Order of the Iron Crown, and to James Griffin for beta reading and falling in love with Lady Daneska.
Lastly, but not least, words cannot express the gratitude I feel for my family and the support they give me. I'm extremely fortunate to have a technophile genius for a brother. Thank you, Gordon, for computers, amazing software, and topflight security. Thank you to my sons and daughter ⦠you vacuumed and cooked while I was too busy writing, you spent hours and hours developing my various websites, yet you still found the time to inspire, encourage, and cheer me on. You all amaze me. I am the luckiest mother ever.
My faithful and loving husband, you are so much like Sebastian, always off fighting tyrants. This book is dedicated to you. You are the greatest supporter a girl could have. When you heard Tor bought this series, you were so happy you jumped up and down. In that moment, my heart overflowed. Joy means so much more when shared with you.
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“You can't go.” I blocked Lord Ravencross's path. “They'll kill you.”
“We all have to die sometime.” He grasped my shoulders and moved me aside.
“It needn't be today.” He let go, so I said it louder. “Not today.”
Please
.
He strode down the hall and I followed. “Very well then, if you won't listen to reason at least let me ride with you. They might not attack two men.”
“You may think this is a clever disguise.” He cut a hard ruthless gaze over my trousers and coat. “Look at you, Tess. Inside of two seconds any fellow worth his salt would be able to tell you're a female.”
He tromped away. “I can't catch them and protect you at the same time.”
I snapped, “You wouldn't need to. I can protect myself.”
“
You
will stay here.” He charged out of the room with a pistol in his hand and another tucked into the crook of his arm. “Miss Stranje,” he bellowed. “Muzzle your pup!”
My heart pummeled against my chest as he rushed downstairs.
“Let him go, Tess.” It was Sera who came to me, not Miss Stranje. She tugged on my arm. If it had been anyone else I would've jerked away, but Sera understood.
I squeezed my eyes shut against the anguish threatening to make me ill. “I saw them murder him,” I whispered. “This morning. In the woods. I saw it.”
“I thought as much.” She smoothed back my hair. “But now that you've warned him, it won't happen.”
“You can't know that for certain.”
“It's a fair assumption. Your visions saved Sebastian and all those other men in Vienna.”
I kept my voice low so Georgie wouldn't overhear. “We don't know that for certain either. Events changed in Calais, but we don't know what has happened since. There's been no word from Captain Grey or Sebastian for almost a fortnight.”
Sera straightened. “This morning you saw what would happen if Lord Ravencross hadn't been warned. Now that you've told him, everything is changed. He's riding out armed.
He
is going after
them
.”
I backed away from her. If only I could stop seeing clubs beating against his skull, knives slicing into his chest, and blood, all that blood,
his blood
, and him collapsed in it with no life in his eyes, then maybe I could believe her.
Maybe
.
“Girls!” Miss Stranje called sharply. “If you will all gather around we shall have our first lesson on guns this morning.” She announced this in the same manner any other headmistress might gather her students to discuss the proper way to pour tea. But ours pushed open a window that looked out over the park and held out the basket of guns. “Suppose my quarry were to dash across the park in that direction.” She pointed across the drive to the far side of the front lawns. “At that distance a small pistol will be of little use. So I will select the pistol with the longer barrel. Why do you suppose that is?”
Georgie piped up. “The elongated barrel will cause the bullet to fire under more pressure. Thus it will go farther and the trajectory will be more reliable.”
“Precisely.” Miss Stranje knelt on the floor and aimed the gun out of the window. “The longer barrel will also provide a more reliable sight.”
Georgie knelt down beside her. “Yes, of course. That makes perfect sense.”
Miss Stranje tilted her head to one side, peered down the length of the pistol, and kept talking. “When you aim at moving target, keep the sight slightly in front of⦔
Palms sweating, only halfheartedly listening, scarcely able to stand in one spot, I kept watch out of the other window. With shaking hands I trained the telescope on the far corner of the north field. Waiting. Watching for Lord Ravencross to come riding along the path.
Maya protested, “Surely, we will never be called upon to use such deadly weapons. We have other methods at our disposal.”
“One must not limit one's arsenal,” Miss Stranje said. “If your persuasive voice would suffice in every situation, Maya, you would not be at Stranje House, would you?”
“I ⦠she ⦠that was my inexperience.” Maya rarely lost her composure. The off-key notes of pain in her normally melodic voice were unmistakable. She fidgeted with the black pelisse she'd donned for this excursion. “With more training and practice I might have prevailed. Surely, you cannot be suggesting I ought to have shot my stepmother?”
“No.” Miss Stranje exhaled loudly, still sighting the gun. She adjusted her position at the window. “Although it is a rather intriguing thought, is it not?”
Maya gasped.
Jane patted Maya's shoulder. “She doesn't mean it. You mustn't take everything so literally.”
Georgie studied the angle of Miss Stranje's gun. “I can think of a situation in which a pistol would've come in very handy.”
I remembered well the night she had in mind.
Miss Stranje said bluntly, “That, my dear, might have proved a grave error. I fear Lady Daneska would've disarmed you and used the gun against you. She is very well trained.”
Georgie sniffed defensively but held her ground. “You trained her. You can train me.”
“We shall see.” Miss Stranje explained how to sight down the barrel of the gun.
I could not concentrate on her lesson. I stared through the telescope at the far corner of the field where the murderers lay in wait. It was a small thing, that hare bounding out of the adjacent woods, but prickles rained over my scalp and arms. My hands shook. I clenched the scope so tight it's a wonder it didn't break. The next instant a flock of birds winged skyward.
I didn't need a vision to tell me what was going on.
“Ambush!” I shoved the scope at Sera. “It's not just the men in the woods between the estates. More are hiding in the back field.” I snatched the double-barreled pistol from Miss Stranje's basket and dashed out of the study.
Miss Stranje called after me, ordered me to stop. I ignored her, took the stairs two at a time, yanked open the front door, and ran. In the freedom of men's trousers I almost flew. I blazed straight and true across the field to the place where they planned to trap him.
I was too late. Lord Ravencross cantered Zeus along the far path headed straight for disaster.
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A Stranje House Novel
Ages 13â17, Grades 8â12
ABOUT THIS GUIDE
The Common Core State Standardsâaligned questions and activities that follow are intended to enhance your reading of
A School for Unusual Girls.
Please feel free to adapt this content to suit the needs and interests of your students or reading group participants.
Prereading Activities
  1.
A School for Unusual Girls
is set in an alternate nineteenth-century Europe. “Alternate histories” are works of fiction in which recognizable historical figures have experiences different from those recorded in history books, and notable events end differently and lead to different futures. Ask each reader to imagine his or her own present if the outcome of a recent historical event had been different. For example, what if the current president had lost the last election? Or, what if Steve Jobs had not invented the iPhone? Write a journal-style essay describing today, paying particular attention to details that would be affected by this “alternate” historical outcome.
  2. Invite students to discuss the way international events, such as tensions in the Middle East or global warming, affect their lives. Do they read about such worldwide issues in the newspaper or online? Do they worry about these problems? Do they have family or friends who have had to travel to countries experiencing political unrest? Do international events affect their family dinner table conversations, their classroom studies, their daily lives, or even their reading choices? Why or why not?
Supports Common Core State Standards: W.8.3, W.9â10.3, W.11â12.3; and SL.8.1, SL.9â10.1, SL.11â12.1
DEVELOPING READING AND DISCUSSION SKILLS
  1. The novel is narrated in the first person by Georgina Fitzwilliam. How do you think this point of view affects what readers learn about Stranje House, the politics of eighteenth-century Europe, and notions of love and trust? Is Georgina a reliable or an unreliable narrator? Explain your answer.
