THE SECRETS OF LOVELACE ACADEMY

An orphan leaves her oppressive orphanage’s squalor and struggles to keep her place at a girls’ school in 1904 London.

Lainey Philipps’ intellectual curiosity, born from her voracious reading habits, garners the attention of Lady Anne Blunt, who offers her a place at Lovelace Academy. Lainey, whose mother was Jewish, loves the academics but is ostracized and belittled by her posh classmates. After her roommate’s lies threaten her enrollment, Lainey learns of the Lovelace Society, a secret group that supports women scientists. The members have a file on scientist Mileva Einstein (co-author Benedict also wrote 2016’s The Other Einstein). Lainey believes that if she can help Mileva with her research, she won’t be expelled. With resources borrowed from a friend, she makes her way across Europe to the Einsteins’ residence in Switzerland. Unexpected obstacles provide conflict during her journey as she encounters classism and the consequences of mistaken impressions; side characters in this story arc display more nuance. Occasionally, the authors toss out heavy-handed moral messages and canned platitudes that clash with the bleaker look at conditions at the time for orphans, women, and other minorities (such as Lainey’s friend with dyslexia and a character who’s from an unspecified nomadic people). Refreshingly, the text doesn’t elevate cerebral pursuits over caretaking in its message of equality—emotional bonds and shared support are shown to aid in academic advancement—but, disappointingly, the secret-society plot fizzles out.

A story in which themes and historical information outshine the character development.