You know, I’ve read a lot of sad books. I’ve read historical fiction books – which usually ALWAYS make me cry – and books about dying babies and WWII pilots. But sometimes, I don’t even shed a tear when I read those books! But with this one? I was bawling like a baby at the end!

Title: Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters

Author: Lesley M.M. Blume

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: July 11, 2006

Source: used bookstore

Synopsis: Eleven-year-old Cornelia is the daughter of two world-famous pianists—a legacy that should feel fabulous, but instead feels just plain lonely. She surrounds herself with dictionaries and other books to isolate herself from the outside world. But when a glamorous neighbor named Virginia Somerset moves next door with her servant Patel and a mischievous French bulldog named Mister Kinyatta, Cornelia discovers that the world is a much more exciting place than she had originally thought.

An unforgettable story of friendship and adventure that takes readers around the world and back again, Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters is a dazzling first novel by Lesley M. M. Blume.

It wasn’t sad – well, okay, it was a little – but the majority of the book had be laughing out loud! It’s just such a beautifully written story that I can’t even handle it. 🙂

I LOVED the main character, Cornelia. She’s an eleven-year-old girl who loves words as much as her famous pianist mother, Lucy, loves music. But she’s sick of being in the shadow of Lucy, and devours privacy and dictionaries like one devours chocolate! Then she meets her new neighbor, Virginia Somerset, who has traveled the world and met Indian princes and the Queen of England and possibly even King Arthur’s ghost! In each chapter, Virginia tells Cornelia a story of one of her and her sisters’ adventures (or should I say, audacious escapades). As the book progresses, Cornelia is inspired by Virginia’s stories and starts to come out of the shell that she’s built around herself.

My favorite part of the book was Virginia’s stories; she’d been to so many incredible places and met so many amazing people. All of the adventures that she went on made up her life, and who she was. It really inspired me… as well as Cornelia. 😉 Virginia understood Cornelia, because they were both readers and writers, and they both loved words. At first, Cornelia doesn’t tell her mother she’s visiting Virginia next door, because she wants to keep her to herself. (As would I!) She doesn’t want to be seen as “Lucy’s daughter” to Virginia, she wants to be seen as Cornelia. But of course, eventually, Lucy finds out, and the ending is just so wonderful. (Even though it made me cry!)

The ending came together so beautifully. I had a hunch how it would end, and I was right – and even though in my gut feeling I saw it coming, it was like I still didn’t believe it, and so it still touched me! It was just… simply beautiful! I can’t say enough about this book. I loved it!

Five stars, five stars, five stars! And two thumbs up!

so have you read this book? do you want to? (you better!) it was just… amazing!! what’s it like when you cry over a book?