The expected release of this book in Spain came this Christmas!! Long live Chris Riddell!!
This novel features even more highlights of Ghastlygorm Hall, from the chimneys called Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (a tall one and seven short ones) or the Six Wives of Henry VIII (six chimneys that look like Tudor queens)...
...to a pastry contest held within the estate, featuring contestants such as... Gordon Ramsay... er... Ramsgate (Ramsay expy!), Nigella... er... Nigellina Sugarspoon... and, among so many present-day British chefs transplanted to the Regency setting, contemporary poet William Blake... er... Flake! And his tabby cat Tyger-Tyger.
“And did those bakers in ancient times bake upon England’s pastures green?” mused Lady Caroline. "
Add a Muscovy duck named Pushkin after the author of Eugene Onegin, some invading French terrorists including Gérard Depardieu... er... Dopplemousse (but he looks like Depardieu!!!), a couple of French poodles called Belle and Sébastien (much in the manner of the guns called Hänsel and Gretel in Part One).
And Lord Sydney Whimsy (think of Peter Whimsey), a good friend of Lord Goth's who turns out to be a secret agent on His Regent's Secret Service... numbered 007!!
And the Brotherhood of Twee Raphelites, expies of Romantic artists led by steam train enthusiast J.M.W. Turner... eh... Turnip, who will place his easel by the local railway and let it go... His masterpiece Soot, Steam, and Slowness is yet another highlight!
Lord Goth is writing a novel about a fair-haired and true lady knight inspired by his daughter (I can't believe even BRIENNE OF TARTH makes a cameo!!!).
See that bespectacled bear beside Ada on the cover? That's her maid Marylebone (pronounced "Marlybone"), who came over from Bolivia (when her parents were killed and her cottage overrun by the Spanish army). Lord and Lady Goth found her before Marylebone Roadhouse in London. (A little bear cub from the New World named after the part of London where a human couple found the cub? Isn't a film about another such bear coming out this winter?). She has recently received a proposal from her lover, General Simon Batholiver, also known as El Libeartador (Yes, El Libertador is also a bear in this world, and a dashing one in uniform with epaulets!) back in Bolivia...
To crown it all.... It's Ada's birthday!
But with so many emotions and adventures, will she and her friends have time to celebrate it?
Long story short... Book Two is as good as Book One (a rarity), and I hope that the third installment, now released in the UK, will be equally excellent! So here is all I can get from Part 3 of the saga:
This spring, just in time for María Calzada's birthday, Ada Goth 3 will come to Spain!
In this third book, The Pirate Queen, we will find Ada in the resort of Brighton on summer holiday. She will make a friend in posh fashionista Vivienne Dashwood, and encounter her rival, dashing dandy Beau Peeps. They're getting ready for the international masked ball and beauty contest known as World Frock Night: an elegant event that may be even more appealing than it sounds.
Ada, with her original and lavish pirate queen costume (just look at the cover!), has her sights already set on the prize, and she can't wait for the big evening, but an unexpected guest at the ball will step up on the challenge... Keep it up, Ada! We know you're gonna win!
