It is 1563 in Elizabethan London and Meggy Swann has just ridden a day's journey from the small village where she was raised to be dropped off in London at the dark, narrow, "Sign of the Sun" house. She has been sent to live with the Alchemist father that she has never met. He left before she was born to work on his dream of turning common metals into gold. Now he is in need of a healthy lab assistant and has remembered that he has a child. But when he sees Meggy he tells her he expected an able-bodied boy to help him and not a crippled girl. But she is stuck in London and must try to find a way to survive. Meggy, ever prickly, and sharp-tongued, has flashing dark eyes and an inquisitive mind. True, she must use two walking sticks to get around but she will find a way to make herself useful to the father who doesn't want her. Her only friend is her pet, Louise, a goose with broken wings.
The former lab assistant, Roger Oldham, has been ordered by her father to show Meggy where she is to sleep and to get her food to eat. He tells her of his plans to join a troupe of players and begin a new life. Roger also tells Meggy how to find him if she should need anything and how to find the market place where she can get food for herself. But Meggy can barely walk with her sticks, how will she ever be able to get around London by herself?
Meggy learns to make herself useful to her father and he finds it helpful to have her assistance in his lab. She is slow but she does learn to get around London to run the errands that he requires. Roger becomes a steadfast friend and the player troupe become an extended family to Meggy who finds friends and foes alike in the neighborhood as she goes out each day.
But there are strange men coming at all hours of the night to her father's laboratory. Meggy overhears of a plot to poison the Baron and she fears that her father may be caught as an accomplice. There is more afoot than turning common metals into gold. Meggy is turning into a stronger, braver and wiser young woman but will she be able to protect her ungrateful father, her friends and herself? To find out, read Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman.
The former lab assistant, Roger Oldham, has been ordered by her father to show Meggy where she is to sleep and to get her food to eat. He tells her of his plans to join a troupe of players and begin a new life. Roger also tells Meggy how to find him if she should need anything and how to find the market place where she can get food for herself. But Meggy can barely walk with her sticks, how will she ever be able to get around London by herself?
Meggy learns to make herself useful to her father and he finds it helpful to have her assistance in his lab. She is slow but she does learn to get around London to run the errands that he requires. Roger becomes a steadfast friend and the player troupe become an extended family to Meggy who finds friends and foes alike in the neighborhood as she goes out each day.
But there are strange men coming at all hours of the night to her father's laboratory. Meggy overhears of a plot to poison the Baron and she fears that her father may be caught as an accomplice. There is more afoot than turning common metals into gold. Meggy is turning into a stronger, braver and wiser young woman but will she be able to protect her ungrateful father, her friends and herself? To find out, read Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman.
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