I was completely blown away by Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters, by Lesley M. M. Blume. It tells the story of Cornelia S. Engleheart, the lonely and, music-wise, untalented daughter of two world famous pianists. She lives in a beautiful apartment in Greenwich, and sees more of her French maid and cook than her mother. Having no interests in common with her classmates, Cornelia spends her time sleeping, eating, going to school, and—of course—reading. Her room is filled with shelves overflowing with an over abundance of books, arming her with a vocabulary she uses as a weapon—large words, she finds, generally ensure that people leave her alone.
That is until Virginia Somerset elderly and vivacious, accompanied by Patel, her friend and caretaker and tiny black French Bulldog, moves into the apartment next door, a masterpiece in itself with rooms themed after places she has visited–a silk hammock piled with elaborate pillows next to a large fountain placed between two palm trees rooted into the white marble floor serves as her Moroccan front hall. She invites Cornelia for tea. During this meeting Virginia tells her first story about her adventures traveling the world with her four audacious sisters when they were young. This visit kindles the spark of what grows to be a close friendship, involving daily visits where tales and tea are shared, between a isolated girl starving for affection and desperate for a friend, and a lively woman pleased by the companionship of the lonely intelligent girl who lives in the apartment next door. It was beautifully written and portrayed how friendship can transcend age and *Spoiler Alert* death.
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