February Book Pick -- Secrets at Sea, by Richard Peck

Richard Peck is one of my favorite authors, and animal fantasy perhaps my favorite kind of fantasy. So I was eager to pick up Peck's newest MG novel, Secrets at Sea, and I was not disappointed. It's been remarked that some readers might have been looking for more of a Pirates of the Caribbean experience than a Jane Austen experience, but I thoroughly enjoyed both the Victorian setting and husband-hunting plot.  

Secrets at Sea tells the story of the Upstairs Cranstons -- the parents, their awkward older daughter, and their pretty younger daughter -- and their counterparts belowstairs, the Mouse Cranstons, whom, the narrator Helena will remind you, are the older family by generations. The mouse story centers on three sisters: Helena, the oldest who must hold things together;  Louise, the nosey one who gathers all the Upstairs Cranston gossip; and Beatrice, the boy-crazy night-wanderer. They also have a ne'er-do-well brother named Lamont, who loses his tail and must have it sewn back on by Helena, and gets into far too many scrapes involving not only cats, but copperheads. One evening Louise races back to the mouse abode inside the walls with a fantastic tale: The Cranstons are going to sail for England to, as they say, give Olive Her Chance. Meaning they have despaired of marrying their older daughter off unless they take extreme measures. Louise considers the younger daughter "her human," and can't bear the idea of being separated, and after one thing and another the mice decide there's no help for it but to stow away in Camilla's luggage and go to England too. Despite the fact that "Water is not a happy subject with us mice," two older sisters and their mother having drowned in the rain barrel some time before.

Many shipboard adventures ensue, especially after the Cranston mice discover that the ship has just as many rodent passengers as human. There's a one-eyed cat, a five-year-old lord who won't lay off the sweets, and mouse royalty capped off by Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Cheddar Gorge. A delightful, dead-on 1880s voice and plenty of humor add to the fun. And yes, there's enough of both human and rodent romance to go around, all with the utmost of Victorian propriety.

What's interesting is that, though this is a historical novel (I heard Richard Peck speak several years ago and he stated he'd be writing historical for the rest of his career), it appeals to the princess phenomenon that is very today. I love the implication that there is an entire hidden mouse world analogous to the human one; the life we see is not the only life there is. Children who have felt the burden of being the oldest will also relate to these appealing, well-developed characters.

A few minor glitches (the occasional line of telling that diluted the showing, the occasional question of POV) are just that -- minor. Definitely recommended!