Cornelia S. (for Street) Englehart lives in a two-story luxury apartment in New York City, where she is tended by a French woman named Mrs. Desjardins. Her parents are both well-known, gifted pianists. But Cornelia is not happy. In fact, she is very lonely. Her mother is always traveling the world doing concerts. Her father left before she was born. To top it all off, anybody who seems to want to make friends turns out to only be interested in getting closer to her mother. To fight back, Cornelia fends off one and all by using very large and obscure words as her every day language. One day she meets Victoria Somerset, an elderly writer who moves into the apartment next door and proceeds to turn it into a fascinating collection of rooms, each designed after a country that Victoria has visited and loved. And her stories! Cornelia is captivated by stories of the adventures Victoria and her three sisters had as they traveled Europe, Africa, and Asia when they were young. Cornelia has found a kindred spirit in Victoria, who also enjoys an immense vocabulary. But can it last?
Date read: 4/28/2009
ISBN-10: 0440421101
ISBN-13: 9780440421108
Check the library catalog