Module 9 - The Agency: A Spy in the House

Cover Art retrieved from its record in worldcat

 

 

Bibliography

Lee, Y.S. (2009). The Agency: A Spy in the House. Great Britain: Walker Books.

Summary

Mary is an orphan on the verge of being hung at the gallows.  That is, until she is rescued by an unusual woman and taken to Miss Scrimshaw’s Academy fir Girls where she is promised a new life.  After spending five years, one year as a teacher’s assistant at the school, Mary is bored and looking for something new.  After a meeting with the head teachers, she learns the school is not what it seems after being selected to work for the school’s secret investigative agency that sends young girls to retrieve information.  Mary’s first assignment is to pose as a lady’s companion and extract as much information as she can about stolen goods from India.  During Mary’s investigation, she is forced to come to terms with herself and her past.

My Impressions

While I am not really interested in historical fiction, I love reading about Victorian England and enjoy mysteries, which made this story an obvious choice.  I was not disappointed.  Mary is a spunky character who you immediately want to see succeed even though some of her speech patterns are clearly not from the period.  It was a compelling mystery.

 Reviews/Awards

“Y.S. Lee has done a fabulous job of creating an incredibly delightful young heroine whose strong will and independent spirit are reminiscent of Austen's Elizabeth Bennet.”—Lindsay Schluter (CM Magazine, October 29, 2010 (Vol. XVII, No. 9)).

“Woven throughout the cloak-and-dagger play is plenty of flirtatious repartee, and even the most perilous of adventures is leavened with a comic edge that winks at the mystery genre.”—Elizabeth Bush (The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, April 2010 (Vol. 63, No. 8)).

“The historical information about The Great Stink of London, the use of Chinese people as sailors during this time period and the Victorian setting itself make this rich with research ideas and discussion for any book club or classroom. The intelligent, strong female character makes this an especially good book for young girls.”—Lona Trulove (VOYA, June 2010 (Vol. 33, No. 2)).

Suggested Activities

As the final review states, this book provides lots of research ideas which would best be fulfilled within either a public or school library.  It would also be a good book to use for a history or mystery book club discussion.