“What if I don’t want to go back to a life of storms and soggy sea biscuits?” said Captain Blunderfuss. “What if I’d rather stay here and search for treasure instead?”
When a pair of unruly fictional pirates escape out of their book into Victorian London, 11-year-old Odelia Hardluck-Smythe’s lonely life is turned upside down. Captain Blunderfuss and Cook are rude, dangerous, and obsessed with marzipan fruits, but they could be the answer to all her prayers. Pirates mean treasure and poor, fatherless Odelia could really do with some of that. Unfortunately, there’s more to ‘treasure’ than buried chests of rubies and diamonds, as Odelia is about to discover the hard way... |
ODELIA AND THE VARMINT
ILLUSTRATOR: ELISA PAGANELLI
GENRE: HISTORICAL FANTASY
FOR TEACHERS' NOTES CLICK BELOW:
VICTORIAN LONDON TODAY
Many of the London landmarks mentioned in Odelia and the Varmint can still be seen today, including Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park and the Serpentine, Big Ben, Marble Arch, The Natural History Museum and Cleopatra's Needle. Waterloo Bridge looked very different in Odelia's day, however. The original nine-arched granite bridge (which opened in 1817) was demolished in the 1930s.
How many of these places can you recognise from Odelia's adventures?
What Victorian landmarks can you find where you live?
GOOD GRIEF!
Did you know that Victorian women like Mrs Hardluck-Smythe were expected to stay in deep mourning for two years after their husbands died? This included wearing black clothes and a widow's veil or mourning bonnet. No jewellery was allowed during this stage.
After two years they entered a period of half-mourning, which allowed them to wear colours such as grey or lavender, along with simple pieces of jewellery in black or white. Popular materials for mourning jewellery were jet and the woven hair of the deceased.
These photographs of a child's mourning bonnet and a selection of Victorian jet and human hair jewellery are from the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter. The bonnet was made for a two-year-old to wear during the first stage of mourning for her sister.
After two years they entered a period of half-mourning, which allowed them to wear colours such as grey or lavender, along with simple pieces of jewellery in black or white. Popular materials for mourning jewellery were jet and the woven hair of the deceased.
These photographs of a child's mourning bonnet and a selection of Victorian jet and human hair jewellery are from the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter. The bonnet was made for a two-year-old to wear during the first stage of mourning for her sister.