QUEEN OF THE SEA

A young orphan’s and an exiled queen’s fates intertwine on a remote island.

Loosely based on the childhood of Elizabeth I, Meconis’ rich historical fantasy centers on young Margaret, an orphan taken while a baby to live on a nearly forgotten island in the kingdom of Albion. Its only inhabitants are a small order of nuns dedicated to helping anyone “whose life or love is at the mercy of the sea,” a hapless priest, a couple servants, some farm animals, and a cat. Margaret, who’s been on the island for six years, thrives in the simplicity of her idyllic existence. Nevertheless, she eagerly anticipates the semiannual visits of the lone ship that docks on the island’s shores and finds her prayers for companionship answered when a young boy and his mother are sent to the island for opposing the king. Margaret then slowly learns the true nature of the convent’s existence and begins to question her own lineage when a mysterious visitor named Eleanor is banished to the island by her sister, the queen, and kept under constant watch. Meconis’ humor and storytelling gifts here wed seamlessly with her evocative pen-and-ink and gouache illustrations, which are rendered in warm earth and sea tones and brim with movement, expressively capturing even Margaret’s interior monologues.

With its compelling, complex characters and intrigue-laden plot, this will have readers hoping it’s only the first of many adventures for Meconis’ savvy heroine.