V is for Victorine by Anne Nesbet
Candlewick, 2023. HC, 263pp
Ages 8-12. MG; MYS; HF
Thank you Candlewick and Edelweiss+ for the eARC.
In this exciting sequel to Daring Darleen, Queen of the Screen, a young heiress in hiding and her film star best friend go on a quick-paced caper through early Hollywood.
It’s 1915, and “missing” heiress Victorine Berryman is living incognito as “Bella Mae Goodwin” with her best friend, Darleen Darling, star of the exciting photoplay serials adventure-loving audiences crave. When the girls travel cross-country to set up roots in Hollywood, California, home of the developing film industry, they find themselves mixed up in a plot as dramatic as anything on the screen, involving switched luggage, stolen artifacts, and nefarious characters hot on their tails. But the stakes are entirely too real! As brave and resourceful Victorine tries to escape the villains’ clutches, she meets a slew of early Hollywood Who’s Whos and experiences the magic of the movie business—as well as its problems, including the harmful prejudices that can be perpetuated by popular films. Can Victorine thwart the bad guys—and figure out who she truly wants to be? (Publisher’s copy)
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I do not read a large number of historical middle grade fiction (outside of Victorian era England), but I studied film and I could get excited by Anne Nesbet choosing this less than usual focus. Regardless of subject matter, Nesbet is remarkably skilled at integrating historical detail into all aspects of the novel; the details not being there to only demonstrate credentials or to ‘inform the reader,’ but to contribute to (or inform) the story at work.
V is for Victorine picks up a year following Daring Darleen, Queen of the Screen and for this second novel, switches to Victorine’s point of view. Nesbet does a successful job of making the novels feel companionable, while allowing the personality shift. The third person limited narrator (and its occasional parentheticals) is the same voice, the tone and concerns are Victorine’s. The energy is scaled back; the physical hijinks in Daring Darlene are not as generously dispensed—the self-discoveries for Victorine don’t require them.
For Victorine, the challenge is not to become someone that would worry their father, but to not become the someone their dear Grandmama hoped they would be. A big occupation (introduced in Daring Darlene) is honesty, being truthful—and true to herself (whoever that is).
Being real is a great conversation to hold in a book that is also about movie-making; an industry that works in deception and manipulation. It’s an industry that entertains questions like: what are the stories we tell; how are they delivered; of what does it convince audience members?
Some examples the novel explores are: Stage Names, which comes up in book one and continues here. The not terribly foreign idea (even today) that older actors play younger characters. I like the set up in the novel in how Victorine and Darlene themselves change their appearances and demeanors to skew younger or older when needed. Are they being deceptive, manipulative, dishonest? Is it just a part of who they are and contexts demand different parts of ourselves? Victorine is thoughtful and articulate and her introspection (and external interrogations) will be relatable.
Some of the cool historical facts Nesbet so flawlessly places will prove intriguing; most will feel relevant. For one, Nesbet does a good job explaining the significance of D.W. Griffith’s film The Birth of a Nation (1915) within the narrative restraints given. An older reader reading along should really be able to emphasize it though. The parallel conversation regarding the need for people to tell their own stories also resonates.
Talks surrounding class distinction is a good idea with a character who is an heiress, and Nesbet explores it, but I found that next step—Grandmama’s revelation at the end–to be not only worthwhile, but exciting. We not only get a history of film (technologically and culturally), but we get a glimpse at a history of thought. Grandmama (and some other powerful women characters) are progressive, but Victorine is on a trajectory to prove moreso.
V is for Victorine could encourage really interesting book club talk about where we’ve been and how much further we have to go re: race, class, sex/gender, reparations. It should definitely inspire some time reviewing classic films and images of actors the books reference. The backmatter is excellent.
I’ve enjoyed this series so far, and could easily recommend them to young fans of historical fiction–and especially those looking to write historical fiction.
leslie d. 