Three of Hearts

by Kathleen Duey, Karen A. Bale

At Miss Heatherton's Academy for Young Ladies, three girls-- independent Matty, snobby Francesca, and Elsa, a mistreated servant girl--form an unlikely friendship when Matty tells Francesca to defy her friends and help her teach Elsa to read, in a novel set in 1857. Original.

Genres: Historical Fiction

116 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1998

About the author

Kathleen Duey grew up in Colorado. She loved riding her horses, hiking, being in the mountains. Reading was always important to her. Writing became a fascination early in her life. In the fourth grade, Kathleen began writing stories and told everyone who would listen that she was going to be an author. Then she did nothing about it until she was 35 years old. Writing was her passion and her dream-come-true.

from: fantasticfiction.co.uk

Kathleen died of cardiac arrest at her home in Fallbrook, California. She was 69. She had struggled with dementia in her latter years which prevented her from completing her Skin Hunger trilogy.

https://web.archive.org/web/202101052...

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's 1857 in St. Louis, Missouri. Eight years ago, eleven-year-old Elsa Linstrom's father left to try and make his fortune in the goldfields of California, but ended up dying there. Elsa's older brother, Karl, refuses to be responsible for the family, spending his days drinking with his friends, and so Elsa and her mother are forced to work as servants in a boarding school for young girls. Mattie Green's mother died when she was born, and so she has never had a mother. Her father is a Mississippi River steamboat captain, and Mattie spent her childhood on her father's boat, travelling up and down the river. But now Mr. Green has decided his daughter needs a proper education, and so she is sent to the boarding school where Elsa works. Francesca de Larmo is another student at the school. She is rich, snobby, and spoiled. Although they are from three very different worlds, the three girls, against all odds, end up becoming the most unlikely of friends, when Francesca and Mattie team up to teach Elsa how to read.

This book was a very sweet and heartwarming story of three girls from worlds apart who somehow come together as friends, and make a difference in each other's lives as they learn important lessons about the meaning of friendship and not judging others for being poor or different. I highly recommend this book to young girls who enjoy historical fiction and stories of friendship.

[Erin O. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this as a little girl. It is similar to "A Little Princess."