Geraldine McCaughrean is an acclaimed children's writer, and this book retains the attractive clarity which has won her both praise and prizes in that genre. It follows the fortunes of Robin Wootton and the two orphan girls he adopts, intending to bring them up according to Rousseau's precepts. The plan is that he will choose as his bride whichever matures into the ideal wife of the title; alas, Rousseau's simple life turns out to be anything but simple and a series of disasters leads to betrayal and tragedy. In other hands such a story might lapse into a dull philosophical exercise, but McCaughrean is a shrewd judge of pace and a vivid creator of character, and she keeps those pages turning right to the disappointingly romantic finale.
By Arminta Wallace