The Chestnut Roaster
As seen:
By Eve McDonnell
avg rating
2 reviews
Who can catch a memory thief? ’ An unforgettable adventure ’ THE TIMES BOOK OF THE WEEK. ""Starting on All Fools Day, twelve years ago, I remember everything. EVERYTHING. That was a wet Saturday, and that was the day I was born."" 12-year-old Piaf has the ability to (and burden of) remembering everything that has happened since the day she was born. When she discovers everyone in Paris has forgotten the entire last year, 1887, including the disappearance of several gifted children, Piaf and her twin brother Luc embark on a dangerous journey that brings them to the depths of Paris’s underground twin, the Catacombs, to capture the memory thief and find the lost children.
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Fine, I guess
This isn’t my kind of book at all, but I’ll still be recommending it to my pupils as some of them will definitely enjoy it, and it’s a we-written gripping adventure.
I don’t really like fantasy and this story is certainly fantastical. Yes, it takes place in the real city of Paris, at a real point in history, 1888. Yes, I know there are catacombs beneath the streets of Paris, but that’s the end of the reality.
Stolen memories, magic gases, a wicked doctor… these are not what I enjoy. But I did like the strength of the brother-sister/twin relationship and the underlying message that being small does not make you weak/unimportant/ less than others.
