Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Jun 12, 2011

Mariel rated it:

Dear sir or friend,
I am a princess in exile. My family cannot access our funds unless you, a kind American, will launder money through your bank account and send letterhead, bank statements and personal documents. Thank you for helping.

Sincerely,
the FitzOsbournes

I don't know why they didn't just send out a letter like this, if they needed money so bad. I get them all of the time. And prince and princesses? Please. Like every African in London is an exiled prin More...

1 comment like (15 people liked it)

Nov 10, 2011

Melee rated it:

Even better than the first one! Sophie's character has matured a lot, I think; she was much more relatable than I remembered her being in the first book. (This most likely has something to do with her no longer perpetually pining for Simon.) Several times her insight and observations reminded me of Cassandra Mortmain.

Michelle Cooper did a great job with the setting again. Not only did she wonderfully conjure the stifling high society of the times, but also more important things, suc More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 29, 2011

Maureen rated it:

A couple of weeks ago, my friend B. (who sometimes comments here as the Baroness) mentioned A Brief History of Montmaray and The FitzOsbornes in Exile as being very Maureen-y books. Shortly afterwards, I was at the library* and happened to see the first one on the shelf. So I snatched it and settled down to read.

And, yes, these are very Maureen-y books. Which is a way to translate my slavering love for them into somewhat sane human-speak.

In A Brief History, we’re introduc More...

0 comments like

Jun 20, 2011

Nicci added it

I read A Brief History of Montmaray ages ago. It was just something that sounded interesting, so I picked it up one day at the library. I really, really enjoyed it, so I was really excited when I discovered this new sequel. It was just as interesting, entertaining, and touching as its predecessor. Filled with a detailed, exquisite historical world and vibrant characters, the Montmaravians are an amazing bunch.
Sophie is a perfect narrator. She is sweet, caring, but also just a little bit to More...

0 comments like

Feb 08, 2012

Alex rated it:

At the end of The Brief History of Montmaray, the first book in the (thus far) trilogy about the FitzOsbornes, royal family of the Kingdom of Montmaray, they were running for their lives in the midst of a Luftwaffe attack. Book 2, The FitzOsbornes in Exile, continues following these royals after their safe arrival in London as recorded by Sophia FitzOsborne in her journal.

Now, it is 1937 and the FitzOsbornes have found refuge at Aunt Charlotte’s Milford Park estate in Dorset. Sophie More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 22, 2011

Eva rated it:

Continuing the story of the young people who are the last members of the royal family of Montmaray, this book is even better than the first. Now living in England with their forty-something, widowed, society aunt, Sophie is torn between the joys of plenty of hot water, new clothes and good food against the anguish that the Germans are using their former home as a base to attack their former friends. While their aunt insists that the Veronica and Sophie attend debutante balls and seek a husband More...

0 comments like

Nov 08, 2011

Snail in Danger (Sid) rated it:

A while ago, Mira Grant aka Seanan McGuire asked what her readers' narrative kinks are. Not in the sexual sense, mind, just — what are the things that push your readerly buttons. And I realized that one of my button-pushers is fictional countries in the real world. (Ruritania, Rovenia, Galazon and Aravill, Dobrenica ... you get the idea.) So this is right up my alley. This is probably what made me keep going with the first book even though there were things about it that annoyed me a bit.
More...

0 comments like

Aug 24, 2011

Jbachelder rated it:

Sequel to "A Brief History of Montmaray". We catch up with the FitzOsbornes in England, where they have arrived after barely escaping the bombardment of their island home by the Nazis. Sophie continues to write about their lives in her journal, and what a change in circumstances. Whereas they were poor royals on Montmaray, now they live with their rich Aunt Charlotte, and she is determined to launch Sophie and her cousin Veronica into society and get them married off. But this is 1 More...

0 comments like

Jul 02, 2011

The Library Lady rated it:

Here is the problem with this book--which I personally loved.It's terrfic. But the author intends it to be and it is pitched as a YA book. And though the protagonists are teens,it's really not a teen book.
It's a book for women who love books set in late 1930s England right before WWII. It's a book for women who read Maisie Dobbs and Dorothy Sayers. It's a book for women who read Nancy Mitford (there are references to the Mitford sisters) and I Capture the Castle.

Because though the More...

0 comments like

Jun 20, 2011

Phoebe rated it:

I found this novel to be that rare creature, the sequel that is better than the first book. Picking up where book 1 left off, Sophie, Veronica, Toby, Henry, and Simon are now safely ensconced in their aunt's luxurious country house, safe but miserable at the thought of their beloved island kingdom in ruins and in possession of the Nazis. Narrated by Sophie through journal entries, the book takes the reader through two years, to the very eve of World War II. Toby wallows in his unrequited love More...

0 comments like

Jun 12, 2011

Whatchyareading added it

When I reviewed Michelle Cooper’s A Brief History of Montmaray, I hadn’t yet read the follow-up. In fact, I hadn’t even realized there was going to be a follow-up until right before I wrote my review. And then no bookstores had a copy of The FitzOsbornes in Exile. I know, because I went to six of them. I ended up having to order it online (which always annoys me) and then wait for it to come (which annoys me even more) before I finally got to pour through it in one night of ridiculous excitement More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 03, 2011

Cathy/The Crazy Bookworm rated it:

The FitzOsbornes in Exile is book #2 in this series. Although I haven't read the first book, I was still able to enjoy everything that the book had to offer! I look forward to devouring the first book, and then eagerly await book #3.

I love historical novels, especially war time and this book gave me exactly what I was looking for. The author created a vivid setting, placing me right in the centre of Sophie's world. I love the 1930's era, and Michelle Cooper captured that perfectly. More...

0 comments like

Feb 19, 2011

Catriona rated it:

.
I am physically shaking. My heart is racing. My hands (and feet) are sweating.

I have just completed the second Montmaray Journal and I am bursting with love, if Michelle Cooper keeps popping emotionally gripping books like this, I think I might just explode. With love and passion and any other word that means endless devotion to a novel.

I’m actually seriously considering finding her “official fan site” or, even better, her email address and More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 17, 2011

Abigail rated it:

As the title to this sequel to A Brief History of Montmaray suggests, the FitzOsbornes - the royal family of the tiny kingdom of Montmaray, an island lying midway between Britain and Iberia, in the Bay of Biscay - had gone into exile in Britain, driven from their ancestral home by a Nazi invasion. Living in the lap of luxury provided by their Aunt Charlotte, whose marriage to a wealthy Englishman had established her in that nation's high society, our narrator Sophie, her brilliant cousin Veronic More...

4 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 02, 2012

Rose rated it:

more reviews at: thegoddessofbooks.blogspot.com

The FitzOsbornes in Exile picks up right where A Brief History of Montmaray left off, and documents the events from Sophie's point of view for the next two years. Aunt Charlotte is determined to get Veronica and Sophie married off, sending them to every party possible for two Seasons, yet the two remain single. Sophie complains of her fellow debutantes, who are superficial back-stabbers, and asks where all the quiet book-loving girls are. More...

0 comments like

Sep 21, 2011

Reynje rated it:

3.5 stars

In lieu of, or until I write a proper review, I thought I’d write a recommendation for the Montmaray books (and yes, I’m aware that I’m cheating here by incorporating books 1 and 2 into one review..)

You may enjoy A Brief History of Montmaray and The FitzOsbornes in Exile if you like reading about / are a fan of / are interested in:

Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle
Meticulously researched historical fiction
Holy-Grail-hunting Fascists
More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 21, 2011

Sue rated it:

This is a sequel to "Montmaray" and is the journal of Sophie, princess of a very small kingdom, the island of Montmaray which has been taken over by the Nazis. The royal family of Montmaray live in a castle all right, but that's as royal as they get. There's housework to do and goats to look after. In this novel, Sophie and her family have had to flee their home to England, where they stay with a family member and live like aristocrats for the first time, as Sophie's cousin Veronica em More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 21, 2011

Laura rated it:

This second Montmaray Journal explodes from the start, using Cooper's work in A Brief History of Montmaray as a fabulous jumping off point. Sophie, Veronica, Toby, and Simon, now living in exile in England, struggle to make sense of a world in which World War II seems more inevitable with every passing moment. Meanwhile, Sophie attempts to find her place in the debutante society of London and to understand the fast pace of the world away from Montmaray. This book is packed full of historical eve More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 17, 2011

Jennifer rated it:

SPOILER ALERT! I enjoyed this book more than the first...plus I think the writing improved. I thought the diary was a good vehicle to show how the pre-WWII era was not black and white-good guys vs. bad guys. There were English facists/blackshirts and communists as well. I thought the characters deepened and the I kept turning pages. I did think the author inserted some 21st century sexual mores when the sister (who admits several times how little she know about "relations") readily ac More...

0 comments like

Jun 03, 2011

Kate rated it:

I have to talk about Sophie, because Sophie is these books. Oh, Sophie. I freaking love Sophie. I love that she is smart. I love that no one ever gives her credit for being smart, and she just lets it roll off her back. I love that she is so open-minded. I love that she is the glue that holds her whole family and, by extension, her whole country and its history together. And I love, maybe more than anything else, that she knows what she wants and what’s important and she fights and works toward More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 16, 2011

meeners rated it:

again, i had a lot of fun reading this, although i would have preferred less of the tedious "high society" bits and more of the "girls fighting EVIL NAZIS with INTELLIGENCE" bits. maybe both of these things are related to a problem with the historical approach. for example, i wonder why/when/where it is that this idea of pre-1945 "high society" became so narrowly fixed in the collective (contemporary) imagination. whenever the plot threatened to turn to yet another More...

0 comments like

Jul 29, 2011

Madelyne rated it:

I finished the book several days ago, but I’ve been hesitant to write my review. What with the hot weather addling away any brain function I might hope to have and well I’m always afraid of not doing justice in my reviews. Time to get over that feeling, I guess, because this book review keeps looming over my right shoulder saying “Madelyne you better write me right this second!”

I found out the second Montmaray Journal was out a few weeks ago (a little late) when I was on the author’s More...

0 comments like

Sep 27, 2011

Tessa rated it:

Before I wrote this I had to check to see if there'd be 1 more Montmaray book and was happy to see that there will be. Because if there were not to be a 3rd book, I would be disappointed that more didn't happen in this one. As it is, I am very satisfied with my reading experience.

I didn't think I was into reading about World Wars but this and the Guernsey Society book make me reconsider that opinion of myself. Sophie has a frank practicality and a gently humorous voice that makes h More...

0 comments like

Jan 27, 2012

Paige rated it:

I eagerly anticipated the arrival of my copy of this book. I had adored the first novel, A Brief History of Montamaray and loved the FitzOsborne family. Was it what I expected? Quite frankly, it was fabulous -- better than the first book, even.

The story picks up after the events of the first novel. The jacket copy gives the spoiler away but I'll still hide it: [spoilers removed]. Now living in London with their Aunt Charlotte, the FitzOsbornes struggle to escape. Michelle Cooper sets More...

2 comments like

Jul 18, 2011

Debbie rated it:

I liked this far better than the first in the series. The story is told in diary form by a girl in her late teens who grew up on an island, the kingdom of her family, bombed out by the Germans in 1937 and now living in England. She is forced by her imperious aunt to go through The SEason so that she and her cousin can both find husbands. In the mean time, she and her cousins and brother try to bring the plight of their small nation to the attention of the United Nations. Who will end up with More...

0 comments like

Jul 29, 2011

Jen rated it:

Great series with so much historical background. The Fitzosbornes are the owners of Montmaray, an island nation in the straits between France, England and Spain. Although poor, they have a rich history going back to Elizabethan times, but now, in the 1930's they find that their island home is well-situated for Germany as a base for its fleet. After Montmaray is bombed, and they are forced to flee to England, the family tries to interest Europe in their fate, as Spain succumbs to the Fascists More...

0 comments like

May 09, 2011

Deborah rated it:

A friend of mine recommended A Brief History of Montmaray as a "not-princessy" princess tale late last year. That book was easily one of my top ten favorite books of all time, and likely within my top five. (I've not gotten around to doing a proper list, hence the uncertainty. ;)

Part of what made A Brief History of Montmaray so compelling and charming to me was its location: the island of Montmaray, which Sophia--the narrator--and her small, spirited family continued to inh More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 30, 2011

Anne rated it:

I enjoyed the continuing adventures of Sophie and her family, who are exiled from their island kingdom in London. Sophie’s journal (1937-1939) is chatty and feels authentic to its time, though I wonder if younger readers will wade through all the political discussions Sophie and her peers have. We see Europe on the brink of World War II from her perspective, including Spanish refugee children, the Kennedys’ influence in London, the massacre of Guernica, Germany’s increasing grab for power, the L More...

0 comments like

Oct 20, 2011

EParkinson rated it:

The FitzOsbornes in Exile is just as slow and mundane as A Brief History of Montmaray, the first book in the Montmaray Journals series. The characters are somewhat shallow and underdeveloped. With a background of pre-WWII, one would think that Cooper would develop the lives of Henry, Sophia, Veronica, Toby, and Simon, more than just to explore the debutante world through Sophia's eyes. This would have worked had Cooper focused more on just Sophia and her desire to be accepted in British socie More...

0 comments like

Apr 15, 2011

Kelly rated it:

3.5.

I didn't read the first one, and I know I should have. The thing is, I was able to enjoy the story and writing and get sucked into the historical issues here quite well without the background of book 1. I would have found more connection with the characters -- particularly Sophia, who I didn't find as compelling as her cousin Veronica -- had I read the first book.

I will probably go back and read the first then dive into this one. That said, good, good historical ficti More...

0 comments like