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In 1873 seventeen-year-old Vesper Holly and her guardians travel to an obscure European grand duchy, where their archenemy Dr. Helvitius is pursuing a lost art treasure and engineering the country's annexation by a neighboring kingdom.Tags
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Who could resist a once-in-a-lifetime invitation to the Grand Duchess of Drackenberg's Diamond Jubilee Celebration? Not Vesper Holly! Off she goes, with her guardian, Brinnie, and his wife, Mary, and plunges into a plot involving a takeover attempt from neighboring Carpatia.
In short order, Vesper finds herself mixed up with Gypsies, a kidnapping, and the discovery of a priceless Leonardo da Vinci portrait. Vesper has her hands full. Especially when the despicable Dr. Helvitius shows up. Will Vesper be able to save the day—and Drackenberg?
In short order, Vesper finds herself mixed up with Gypsies, a kidnapping, and the discovery of a priceless Leonardo da Vinci portrait. Vesper has her hands full. Especially when the despicable Dr. Helvitius shows up. Will Vesper be able to save the day—and Drackenberg?
Vesper and her guardians Brinnie and Aunt Mary head to the Duchy of Drackenberg for the Duchess's Golden Jubilee. In Drackenberg, they visit castles, spas, museums, and attend a ball at the royal palace. Their vacation is going well until Helvitius kidnaps Aunt Mary. Will Vesper and Brinnie find Aunt Mary before it's too late? Will they foil Helvitius's evil schemes for the duchy?
As an adult, I did not enjoy or finish this book.
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Author Information
95+ Works 55,656 Members
Lloyd Alexander, January 30, 1924 - May 17, 2007 Born Lloyd Chudley Alexander on January 30, 1924, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Allan Audley and Edna Chudley Alexander, Lloyd knew from a young age that he wanted to write. He was reading by the time he was 3, and though he did poorly in school, at the age of fifteen, he announced that he wanted show more to become a writer. At the age of 19 in 1942, Alexander dropped out of the West Chester State Teachers College in Pennsylvania after only one term. In 1943, he attended Lafayette College in Easton, PA, before dropping out again and joining the United States Army during World War II. Alexander served in the Intelligence Department, stationed in Wales, and then went on to Counter-Intelligence in Paris, where he was promoted to Staff Sergeant. When the war ended in '45, Alexander applied to the Sorbonne, but returned to the States in '46, now married. Alexander worked as an unpublished writer for seven years, accepting positions such as cartoonist, advertising copywriter, layout artist, and associate editor for a small magazine. Directly after the war, he had translated works for such artists as Jean Paul Sartre. In 1955, "And Let the Credit Go" was published, Alexander's first book which led to 10 years of writing for an adult audience. He wrote his first children's book in 1963, entitled "Time Cat," which led to a long career of writing for children and young adults. Alexander is best known for his "Prydain Chronicles" which consist of "The Book of Three" in 1964, "The Black Cauldron" in 1965 which was a Newbery Honor Book, as well as an animated motion picture by Disney which appeared in 1985, "The Castle of Llyr" in 1966, "Taran Wanderer" in 1967, a School Library Journal's Best Book of the Year and "The High King" which won the Newberry Award. Many of his other books have also received awards, such as "The Fortune Tellers," which was a Boston Globe Horn Book Award winner. In 1986, Alexander won the Regina Medal for Lifetime Achievement from the Catholic Library Association. His titles have been translated into many languages including, Dutch, Spanish, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Serbo-Croation and Swedish. He died on May 17, 2007. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Lloyd Alexander has a Legacy Library. Legacy libraries are the personal libraries of famous readers, entered by LibraryThing members from the Legacy Libraries group.
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Drackenberg Adventure
- Original publication date
- 1988
- People/Characters
- Vesper Holly; Dr. Helvitius; Grand Duchess of Drackenberg
- Important places
- Drackenberg Duchy
- First words
- Miss Vesper Holly dislikes weak tea and watercress sandwiches. She avoids those genteel occasions featuring starched collars and white gloves. However, the slightest hint of something out of the ordinary is enough to gain t... (show all)he dear girl's attention.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)I did not reply. It is, I have long realized, quite impossible to guess what goes on in the dear girl's constantly active mind, so I made no attempt to speculate. She would tell me soon enough.
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Statistics
- Members
- 348
- Popularity
- 90,666
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.78)
- Languages
- English, German, Swedish
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 9
- ASINs
- 6
