Alchemy and Meggy Swan by Karen Cushman

 

Cushman, Karen. Alchemy and Meggy Swan. Boston: Clarion Books, 2010. ISBN 978-0-547-23184-6

Plot

Meggy Swan is a smart young girl who has learned to protect herself with her sharp tongue. She has needed to since she was born with legs that didn’t support her to a mother who didn’t either. Her dear grandmother, who loved and looked after Meggy, passed away, and so Meggy was sent to London to be with her father, an alchemist. But her father doesn’t see the use of a girl who can’t walk without sticks. Amidst it all, Meggy overhears of her father’s role in a plot to poison a baron. In this coming-of-age story, Meggy, unwanted by her parents and often mistreated because of her legs, struggles to find her place in 16^th century London—a city where streets run with filth, but also a city where beauty and strength can be found.

Analysis

The author, Karen Cushman, provides resources for further reading and describes the significant amount of research that went in to the creation of the book to ensure that the story remained authentic and the details accurate. The colorful, vivid language used throughout the book is true to the times and still reads smoothly. Readers get to explore and experience Elizabethan London right there alongside Meggy as she ventures further beyond her father’s house and workshop. Interesting historical details are interwoven into the story, such as when Meggy empties her chamber pot into the street, witnesses a fire and the attempts to put it out, partakes in her father’s alchemical experiments, and even sees the queen from a distance. Although Meggy was born in 16^th century England, readers will be able to relate to her desire to transform herself. Strong-willed Meggy struggles with feelings of frustration and disappointment, with feeling unwanted by her parents, and with feeling held back by her legs and her apparent inability to take care of herself. She also has to deal with insults and jeers from both strangers and neighbors who believe her disability was earned due to past sin or was the work of the devil. Meggy and the people she meets throughout the book all have varying attitudes towards her disability. Although the exact beliefs (that babies born with physical deformities were touched by evil) held by some of the characters in the book may not be held today, people today still have varying reactions toward physical differences. Despite these struggles, Meggy learns that she has other strengths and realizes she can look after herself. She also learns to take pleasure in friends and realizes she can use her strengths to help others.

This novel will appeal to all readers who have felt out of place and wished for different circumstances, different relationships, or different bodies. A clear theme of transformation is present in the book. Meggy’s father attempts to transform metals into gold through the process of alchemy. Meggy dreams of being transformed so that she can walk easily, run, and dance. But through her own hard work, pushing herself out of her comfort zone and connecting with others, Meggy is able to make a place for herself and it is her outlook that is ultimately transformed.

Awards and Recognition

Karen Cushman is an award-winning author, and Alchemy and Meggy Swan has received several starred reviews and has appeared on multiple “best book” lists.

“Meggy is a heroine in mind and deed. Cushman has the uncanny ability to take a time and place so remote and make it live. Readers can hear and see and smell it all as if they are right beside Meggy. She employs the syntax and vocabulary of the period so easily that it is understood as if it’s the most contemporary modern slang. A gem.”—Kirkus Starred Review

“Because so many historical novels set in this period feature girls of royal or noble lineage, it’s bracing to meet Meg, who empties her own chamber pot into the ditch outside her door and trades strings of creative Elizabethan insults with Roger, her best friend. Writing with admirable economy and a lively ability to re-create the past believably, Cushman creates a memorable portrayal of a troubled, rather mulish girl who begins to use her strong will in positive ways.”—Carolyn Phelan, Publishers Weekly Starred Review

“Cushman adds another intrepid, resourceful, courageous girl to her repertoire in this tale set in 16th-century London. […]The astounding sights, sounds, and smells of the city accost [Meggy], and readers see and hear them all through Cushman’s deft descriptive and cinematic prose.”—School Library Journal Starred Review

Connections

This book presents a fascinating look at life in 16^th century London. Have a discussion about how your life would be different if you lived then. What would you eat, what would you learn and do, and what would your dreams be? Use other resources, such as those mentioned in the author’s note and the books listed below, to learn more about life in Elizabethan times and support the discussion.

Other books that take place during Elizabethan times, such as:

• Who was Queen Elizabeth? by June Eding
• Will Sparrow’s Road by Karen Cushman
• Isabel: Taking Wing by Annie Dalton
• All the World's a Stage: A Novel in Five Acts by Gretchen Woelfle
• The Shakespeare Stealer by Gary Blackwood
• Who was William Shakespeare? by Celeste Mannis

Broadsides and ballads were an integral element to the plot of the book. Learn more about the printing press and have children write their own ballads and create their own broadsides!

*This review was written for a youth literature class through Texas Woman’s University.