THE STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL TALE OF MISS PERCY PARKER

Author: Leanna Renee Hieber ISBN: 9780843962963 9/2009 HISTORICAL FANTASY Publisher: DORCHESTER
Time Period: 1800s

What fortune awaited sweet, timid Percy Parker at Athens Academy? Considering how few of Queen Victoria’s Londoners knew of it, the great Romanesque fortress was dreadfully imposing, and little could Percy guess what lay inside. She had never met the powerful and mysterious Professor Alexi Rychman, knew nothing of the growing shadow, the Ripper and other supernatural terrors against which his coterie stood guard. She knew simply that she was different, haunted, with her snow-white hair, pearlescent skin and uncanny gifts. But this arched stone doorway offered a portal to a new life, an education far from the convent—and an invitation to an intimate yet dangerous dance at the threshold of life and death…

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

THE STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL TALE OF MISS PERCY PARKER is a tale about becoming. I know that sounds strange, but I truly believe that this is what this delightful historical fantasy is about. It’s been a long time since I’ve been as intrigued with a character as I was with Percy Parker. She is young, amazingly different from most heroines in an ethereal sort of way; and while she seems to be almost as malleable as a lump of clay, I can’t help but believe she is going to evolve more fully as this series progresses. Percy is a work-in-progress, someone on her way to actualizing her full capacity. While she makes great strides in this first installment, she is, at the close of the tale, still becoming. What, or who, she will end up finally becoming is still a mystery—one that intrigues me more than I can say.

Identifying with the Beast from Beauty and the Beast seems incongruous with Miss Parker’s other-worldly presence, but she does, in fact, admit to as much when pressed by her professor on her nineteenth birthday. Professor Alexi Rychman’s struggle to discern whether Percy is actually part of his destiny or merely someone sent to distract him is gripping. His intensity, and his academic charm, make him seem completely unsuitable for Percy; but theirs is a relationship that quickly grows, both in the physical realm as well as the others they explore.

I enjoyed so much about this book that it’s hard to focus on any one aspect of it. The characters, unusual to the extreme, are interesting. Even the “evil” bits of this story have merit, if only to balance the timid Miss Parker. The plot intrigued me, and I am left wondering where the next installment in this series will go. I hope it will lead toward further growth for Miss Parker, but even if it doesn’t, I will eagerly read more from this talented author. With a way for weaving angels, spirits, and all sorts of ethereal beings into the world of ordinary mortals, Ms. Hieber has an engaging voice and has a new fan in this reader.

Kay James