Book Review: A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty

The A Corner of White

Author: Jaclyn Moriarty

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia

Pages: 412 pages

Madeleine Tully lives in Cambridge, England, the World- a city of spires, Isaac Newton and Auntie's Tea Shop.
Elliot Baranski lives in Bonfire, the Farms, the Kingdom of Cello- where seasons roam, the Butterfly Child sleeps in a glass jar, and bells warn of attacks from dangerous Colours.
They are worlds apart- until a crack opens up between them; a corner of white- the slim seal of a letter.

Elliot begins to write to Madeleine, the Girl-in-the-World- a most dangerous thing to do for suspected cracks must be reported and closed.

But Elliot's father has disappeared and Madeleine's mother is sick. Can a stranger from another world help to unravel the mysteries in your own? Can Madeleine and Elliot find the missing pieces of themselves before its too late?

A mesmerising story of two worlds; the cracks between them, the science that binds the colours that infuse them.

My Review

Thoughts on the book: I was asked late last year if I wanted to be a part of the blog tour for book 3 in The Colours of Madeleine, A Tangle of Gold. Now I must admit here that I had never heard of this series and was a little hesitant to commit myself to it as I hadn't read any of Jaclyn Morisrty's previous book and wasn't sure if I would really like the genre as I'm not a big fantasy reader. So I asked the publisher to send me the first book to try and you know what I couldn't put it down. Upon starting the first page I quietly sat there and read the book over the weekend.

A Corner of White is the first book in the Colours of Madeleine series by Jaclyn Moriarty. It is told from the 3rd person points of view of Madeleine Tully, the girl in the world, and Elliot Baranski from the kingdom of Cello. There are also  experts from The Kingdom of Cello: An illustrated travel guide and The Cellian Herald. These two strike up an unlikely friendship when they start corresponding through a crack, a gap between the worlds, with letters: an old to for Elliot and a parking meter for Madeleine. Through this friendship that develops we learn about each of their lives, their worlds and the struggles that they are facing; Madeleine who is dealing with her mother who happens to not be herself and the loss of her father in her life and Elliot who is dealing with the disappearance of his father, becoming the carer for the Butterfly Child, which he has no clue about, and trying to deal with the sudden colour storm.

The kingdom of Cello is a fascinating new world that fantasy readers will love. I found the idea of the colour storms that sweep through the the kingdom to be really fascinating especially as each colour brings something different. I also enjoyed learning about their local sport, deftball although I can't imagine how it would really work in the real world but it still sounds amazing. Another interesting concept that the author created was the Butterfly Child. That something so little can bring so much happiness to a town and change the lives of everyone, well that's what is supposed to happen anyway. But then again we learn that not many people know how the Butterfly Child actually works so that is a mystery within itself. We also get to learn a bit about some famous people from history and some science which you don't even really pick up on which is amazing.

I am really looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

Favourite quotes/part:

This is what I want you all to do. I want you to open a new document and type up a list of three problems in your life. Not the universe's life - your own. Underneath, type the solutions."

"If we know the solutions," said Belle, "they're not problems."

"Exactly," said Denny. "You do know the answers to most of your problems. Somewhere deep inside, you know.

“Who knows if all our brains are inventing the same thing? I mean, how do we know that the thing YOUR eyes see and call "red" is the same thing that I call "red"?” 

Rating: 5/5