Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly - Review

So I realized I had put this on my top ten of the year yet didn't post a review - so here it is:

Jennifer Donnelly brings together the stories of two troubled teenagers, born centuries apart, living on separate continents, but both in desperate circumstances.

Andi lives in New York, a brilliant musician who is failing high school because she's torn apart by the loss of her brother. Her father takes her to Paris with him over winter break where he is examining a heart that may or may not belong to Louis Charles, the son of Marie Antionette, who was imprisoned in a tower during the French Revolution and supposedly died there. Andi stumbles across a journal, hidden in an old guitar case, written by Alexandrine Paradis, a would-be actress, a spy, who took care of the young dauphin. Both have secrets. And as their fates twine around each other they both find out that it's never too late to do what you feel you have to do.

This is an incredible book full of music and love, betrayal and danger, intrigue and redemption. Often brutal yet exceptionally well researched, Revolution is simply a must read for anyone interested in the history of music or historical novels in general. I could not put it down and although I was disturbed by the twist in the book when I first got there, it grew on me, pulling all the strands together beautifully. Don't miss this one.