Series
Genres
Description
In a world between wars, a young man on the cusp of taking priestly vows is suddenly made a fugitive. Fleeing the accusations of police who blame him for a murder, as well as more sinister forces with darker intentions, Vango attempts to trace the secrets of his shrouded past and prove his innocence before all is lost. As he crisscrosses the continent via train, boat, and even the Graf Zeppelin airship, his adventures take him from Parisian rooftops to Mediterranean islands to Scottish forests.
Publication
Candlewick (2014), Edition: Reprint, 432 pages
User reviews
LibraryThing member JaiW
Vango, with his mysterious origins and his devoted nanny come to us as castaways. Vango has been diagnosed as "paranoid" but as time goes on it seems he might have good cause. Unfortunately the big question, who is Vango, is not answered in this book although many of the individual plots are tied
Show More
up. Vango is a good read with many interesting characters tied loosely to the historic events of the 1930's. Show Less
LibraryThing member mal2012
Loved this book! Vango is a mysterious figure that is wanted by the police for a murder he did not commit and is hunted by assassins and he has no idea why.
LibraryThing member Sullywriter
This is not my favorite sort of novel to read but I do appreciate and admire de Fombelle's talent for creating a sprawling, intricately plotted story. This is an unusual, old-fashioned kind of grand adventure with a huge cast of characters and lots of locales. Readers who enjoy stories packed with
Show More
adventure and suspense, including a little romance, will love this. Show Less
LibraryThing member rdwhitenack
A good book made better by reading it in large sections; don't take your time with this. A dizzying amount of characters of varying importance, or at least written of in a time frame that can be a little hard to keep up with or keep straight. Many of mysteries uncovered in this book are not made
Show More
clear until the sequel, so patience is required. A book well designed for mystery-philes and older YA readers. De Fombelle goes out of his way to make things abundantly clear to young readers that may be reading, or at least the translation does. Show Less
LibraryThing member rdwhitenack
A good book made better by reading it in large sections; don't take your time with this. A dizzying amount of characters of varying importance, or at least written of in a time frame that can be a little hard to keep up with or keep straight. Many of mysteries uncovered in this book are not made
Show More
clear until the sequel, so patience is required. A book well designed for mystery-philes and older YA readers. De Fombelle goes out of his way to make things abundantly clear to young readers that may be reading, or at least the translation does. Show Less
LibraryThing member DavidO1103
Terrific rip-roaring old fashioned adventure story, set in the 1918-35 period, replete with Russian spies, Nazis, French police, a secret island, and featuring a young man/boy whose background is unknown...
LibraryThing member LinzFG
READ THIS!
LibraryThing member fromthecomfychair
I bought this book for my high school library when it was published, but never got around to reading it. I think I was attracted to the original cover art. If I had read it, I would have been able to recommend it highly, especially to students who like a lot of action, dialog, and less description.
Vango is a young man of mysterious origins, who washes up, with his nanny, on a small island off the coast of Italy in 1918. There he grows up with Mademoiselle, always having a vague paranoia. You know what they say about paranoia. "Just because you think they're out to get you, it doesn't mean they aren't." Or something like that. "They" are, but who they are and why they are out to get him is a mystery. We follow Vango as he hops around Europe trying to find answers, from an island with a "ghost" monastery of monks who are hiding out, to Paris, to an airship that takes him to Brazil and back to Scotland and other destinations. Along the way he takes on other memorable characters including Zefiro, the founder of the ghost monastery, to Eckener, the German owner of the airship, Ethel, a Scottish heiress whom he meets on the airship, the Cat, a Parisian girl with claustrophobia who sleeps on the roof of her building, and Voloy Viktor, a Russian assassin who works for Stalin. The action takes place just as Hitler has come to power, and shifts from character to character.
Unfortunately, it ends on a cliffhanger, but there is a second book following. I don't think this book got enough publicity. It really is good.
Show More
It is a beautifully written story, and moves fast from place to place. I wish I had written down the characters as they appeared. There is at least one that whose origins I can't remember. Vango is a young man of mysterious origins, who washes up, with his nanny, on a small island off the coast of Italy in 1918. There he grows up with Mademoiselle, always having a vague paranoia. You know what they say about paranoia. "Just because you think they're out to get you, it doesn't mean they aren't." Or something like that. "They" are, but who they are and why they are out to get him is a mystery. We follow Vango as he hops around Europe trying to find answers, from an island with a "ghost" monastery of monks who are hiding out, to Paris, to an airship that takes him to Brazil and back to Scotland and other destinations. Along the way he takes on other memorable characters including Zefiro, the founder of the ghost monastery, to Eckener, the German owner of the airship, Ethel, a Scottish heiress whom he meets on the airship, the Cat, a Parisian girl with claustrophobia who sleeps on the roof of her building, and Voloy Viktor, a Russian assassin who works for Stalin. The action takes place just as Hitler has come to power, and shifts from character to character.
Unfortunately, it ends on a cliffhanger, but there is a second book following. I don't think this book got enough publicity. It really is good.
Show Less
Awards
Green Mountain Book Award (Nominee — 2017)
UKLA Book Award (Shortlist — 2015)
IBBY Honour Book (Writing — 2012)
Prix des libraires du Québec (2011)
Prix Les Mordus du Polar (2011)
Language
Original language
French
Physical description
9.3 inches
ISBN
0763671967 / 9780763671969