Madensky Square

by Ibbotson, Eva; Wood, Laura

• ISBN13: 9781529023046
• ISBN10: 1529023041
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2021-09-01
• Publisher: Macmillan UK

Summary

A whip-smart observation of the passions and tragedies behind daily life, Eva Ibbotson's Madensky Square is a classic snapshot of Viennese life before WWI, with a new introduction from Laura Wood.

Susanna Weber's dress shop stands in the picturesque Madensky Square, a quiet little world of its own, nestled in the heart of glittering pre-war Vienna.

As the winter of 1910 unfurls into spring, Susanna starts a journal about life in the Square, about the buildings and their colorful inhabitants. There's Frau Schumacher, with six daughters and a baby on the way, Professor Starsky and his menagerie of sickly reptiles, an aging bookseller, a teenaged Anarchist, and little Sig –an orphaned child prodigy forced to play the piano all day, every day.

And then there's her dear friend Alice, the only person who has noticed the heartbreak that hides beneath Susanna's brisk kindness and brilliant talent . . .

Author Biography

Eva Ibbotson was born in Vienna in 1925 and moved to England with her father when the Nazis came to power. She wrote more than 20 books for children and young adults, many of which garnered nominations for major awards for children's literature in the UK, including the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize and the Whitbread Prize. Imaginative and humorous, Eva's books often convey her love of nature, in particular the Austrian countryside, which is evident in works such as The Star of Kazan and A Song for Summer. Eva passed away at her home in 2010. Her final book, One Boy and His Dog, was published in 2011. Dr Laura Wood is an academic and writer. She is the winner of the Montegrappa Scholastic Prize for New Children's Writing and the author of the 'Poppy Pym' series.