Etiquette & Espionage

Finishing School Series: Book #1

By Gail Carriger

Genre: Juvenile Fiction

Curriculum Subject: Adventure: Espionage, Teen Life: School, Personal Development: Manners

Grades: 7 – 12

It’s one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It’s quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School.

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners–and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped. At Mademoiselle Geraldine’s, young ladies learn to finish…everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but the also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage–in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year’s education.

Set in the same world as the Parasol Protectorate, this YA series debut is filled with all the saucy adventure and droll humor Gail’s legions of fans have come to adore.

PRAISE

★ “Carriger’s YA debut brings her mix of Victorian paranormal steampunk and winning heroines to a whole new audience…with cleverly Victorian methods of espionage, witty banter, lighthearted silliness, and a ship full of intriguingly quirky people.” – Booklist, starred review

★ “[A] delightfully madcap espionage adventure…” – Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ “Carriger deploys laugh-out-loud bon mots on nearly every page…Amid all the fun, the author works in commentary on race and class in a sparkling start to the Finishing School series.”– Publishers Weekly, starred review

★ “Carriger’s leading lady is a strong, independent role model for female readers… Ladies and gentlemen of propriety are combined with dirigibles, robots, werewolves, and vampires, making this story a steampunkmystery and an adventure mash-up that is sure to intrigue readers…” – School Library Journal, starred review

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