March 1, 2001
In "The Maiden of Mayfair," first in her Victorian Tales of London series, Blackwell evokes Dickens rather than the Brontes in her portrait of young Sarah Matthews. Sarah is the ward of the St. Matthew Methodist Foundling Home for Girls in Drury Lane. Although the orphanage is grim, she's lucky, for abandoned children are everywhere and often perish in the streets. And soon Sarah is rescued by a rich widow who suspects Sarah may be her granddaughter, the daughter of her profligate son. Blackwell's Victorian romances can seem tame even for the Christian market, although her period detail is always fine, and this series looks to be livelier than some of its predecessors. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)