The Good Thieves
In Prohibition-era New York, Vita and her mother arrive from Liverpool only to learn that her widower grandfather, Jack, has unwittingly sold the family castle, brought over from Europe generations ago when the family was wealthy, to real estate crook Victor Sorrotore. Vita is determined to get it back. An heirloom emerald necklace hidden in the castle would pay for legal fees to right the wrong, if they can only get to it. Vita encounters circus kids performing at Carnegie Hall, near her grandfather’s flat, and recruits animal trainer Arkady and aerialist Samuel to help her. Vita also recruits an initially reluctant Silk, a pickpocket living on the streets. The children use their various talents (Vita can throw objects extremely accurately) to get into the castle, but once they find the necklace, events take a surprising twist.
This was my introduction to Rundell’s work, and it is a real page-turner. An exciting quest plot line, excellent characterizations, and Rundell’s enchanting prose are all compelling: “The Plaza Hotel was the kind of place you expect to find people clad in velvet and swan’s feathers, who pitch their voices low and their eyebrows high. It was for people who did not walk but swept.” Rundell does not spoon-feed the reader; the historical period has to be deduced from clues in the text, and sometimes the reader has to wait for an explanation of why something happened. The characters’ struggles are also compelling: Vita is physically challenged from having had polio, but she does not let that hold her back. Samuel’s efforts to become an aerialist are not easy—the circus expects children to follow in their parents’ footsteps; his works with horses, not on the trapeze. I enthusiastically recommend this book to both young readers and adults.
