"The Golden Hour" by Maiya Williams is about a brother and sister, Rowan and Nina, who go to live with their aunts because their mother has just died and their father is a drunk. Rowan and Nina are both distraught about their mothers death and they both become really withdrawn until they meet Xanthe and Xavier: twins who live nearby. They find a time machine and Nina wants to travel back to the Enlightenment, but gets the wrong century, and ends up in Paris 2 days before the Bastille is stormed to start off the French Revolution. Rowan, Xanthe, and Xavier travel back to the Revolution to find her, and are forced to face all the events leading up to July 14, 1789, the day the Bastille is stormed, and even a little after the revolution begins.
Although the book was much more childish than the other 3 books I read, it was still interesting to see the French Revolution from a more modern perspective. Whereas the first three books were all about the people (peasants) of Paris and how horrific Paris was for them at the time, this books also showed Paris from the perspective of the nobility and the King and Queen. The first three authors wrote their books shortly after the French Revolution and were clearly on the side of the revolutionaries because they knew what the people of Paris had just been through, but Williams gave both perspectives and made it clear that she didn't take any sides by making each of her characters have a different opinion on who was to blame for the misfortunes of the Parisians.
Another thing I liked about this book was that it was sort of like reading from a history books at times. Since it was written for younger readers and the main characters were younger, the reader learned as the character did. So before Xanthe, Xavier, and Rowan traveled back to find his sister, they went to a library to learn about the French Revolution and as they were reading about it, the book narrated what they were reading, so the reader got to learn too. I thought it was kind of cool to get some research from reading a novel like this about France and Paris during and before the French Revolution.
One other thing I really liked about this book, that none of the other books showed was what Paris was like right before the Revolution began (at least for the nobility). This book really showed the beauty of Paris and how amazing it would have been to live there at the time if you weren't a peasant. The book also showed a little bit of what it was like for the peasants, but not too much. That was okay though, because I already knew from reading the other books. It was refreshing to learn that Paris was an amazing place before the Revolution and restored itself back to an amazing place after.
