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Monday, October 31, 2022

a long list of unanswered questions... Twin Sisters Livingston and the Mystery at Madame Molineaux's by Mary Knight

Madame Molineaux’s School for Girls is filled with interesting students and professors from all over Europe.
But this is no ordinary boarding school: bizarre animals, hidden tapestries, secret tunnels, and a long list of unanswered questions...


Description:

Twin sisters Maddie and Jo Livingston have spent their lives traveling the world with their famous archaeologist parents. But when the Livingstons’ work takes them on a mysterious year-long excavation in Siberia, much too dangerous for two twelve-year-old girls, Maddie and Jo are whisked off to a castle in Switzerland, where they find themselves piecing together a mystery of their own.

Madame Molineaux’s School for Girls is filled with interesting students and professors from all over Europe. But it doesn’t take long for the girls to figure out that this is no ordinary boarding school: bizarre animals, hidden tapestries, secret tunnels, and a long list of unanswered questions keep Maddie, Jo, and their new friends searching for clues around every corner. Where is that snotty Rosemary Byron going when she sneaks out of her dormitory at night? What secret is their beloved headmistress trying to protect? Who is concealing treasures in the unlikeliest of hiding places?

The girls must put all these strange pieces together to discover the staggering truth, and to save their school before Madame Molineaux’s closes its doors—for good!

EXCERPT

            The words echoed in Maddie’s ears.

You’re not coming with us.

Her emotions bounced between shocked and fearful to giddy and excited. Mom and Dad are going to leave us somewhere. The fact that where was still a mystery calmed her somehow. A hundred different possibilities flashed through her mind. Perhaps Jo and I will be taken back to Paris by Henri to attend the finest ballet academy. Or maybe we’ll stay in Morocco, and live in a beautiful hotel while we’re taught by a fancy governess. Or maybe—

“What?!” Jo wailed, bursting into tears and interrupting Maddie’s daydreams. “What do you mean we’re not coming, Dad? What are we supposed to do? Where are we going when you and Mom go to Siberia? Why can’t we go there, too?”

Martha and Tom stayed calm. As much as they wanted to abandon their plans for Siberia, scoop up their daughters, and return to Boston the next day, they knew this would only sting for a little while more. The work they were about to begin, and the new adventures for Maddie and Jo, were worth the initial sadness.

“It’s not that you can’t come to Siberia, girls,” Tom explained, pausing for a moment to consider another option. “If you like, you can come. But you won’t be able to go outside and play, you won’t have any friends, and you won’t be able to go to school. Siberia is freezing cold, and no one lives in the region we’re going to. Even your mom and I aren’t looking forward to the icy weather, the snowsuits, and the isolation. But if you insist, well!” He tossed his hands up and smiled at his wife. “Honey, I think we should let them come—Ow!”

Martha elbowed him in the side. “Uh . . . thanks, Tom,” she said as her husband rubbed his ribs. “Or,” Martha said, a smile forming at the corners of her mouth, “you could go to Europe, just like you asked to do earlier.”

The girls’ expressions changed. Jo’s chin lifted as she waited for her mother to tell her more, and the wheels in Maddie’s head stopped spinning for a moment.

“Henri knows of a boarding school,” Martha said quietly. “It’s a marvelous place, just for girls. He assured us it would be perfect for you. They’re expecting you soon.”

By now, Martha was crouched down on the ground. Maddie and Jo, temporarily forgetting their sadness about being left behind, sat cross-legged in the sand so they could put their heads on their mother’s shoulders.

“Boarding school?” Jo asked. “Does that mean we would live there?”

“Yes, Jo, with lots of other girls your age,” Martha replied. “Doesn’t that sound like fun? Like when your friends stay over, but it will happen every night.”

Jo began to imagine nightly ghost story sessions, pillow fights, and cookie making—just like when she and Maddie had a birthday party in Boston.

“Mom, Dad,” Maddie asked, “where is the school?”

Tom reentered the conversation now that Martha had pacified their daughters. “It’s in Switzerland, in a tiny town called Saint-Marcel. Henri says that it’s beautiful, on the banks of a sparkling blue lake, high in the mountains. It’s called Madame Molineaux’s School for Girls.”

Jo sounded out the name. “Madame Mo-Lee-Noe’s?” she asked, exaggerating the syllables. “Is that a French name?”

“It sounds like it,” Maddie said, turning to her mother with a new reason to be concerned. “Do we have to speak French there? Do they speak English?”

Maddie and Jo had had French lessons back in Boston and had even gotten to practice with some of the Moroccan locals, but could only carry on light conversation.

“Not to worry, girls,” Martha said. “Most classes are taught in English. There will be others there who don’t speak French, and you’ll take French lessons with them. I bet by the end of the year, you two will sound like you were born in Paris!”

Jo thought about how long it had taken to get to Morocco in the first place. “But how would we get to Switzerland? And how long will it take? And where are our things? And—”

TOUR SCHEDULE

A
bout the author:
Before she started writing the Twin Sisters Livingston series, Mary studied International Affairs and foreign language at Georgia Tech. After almost a decade as a musician, waitress, and paralegal, she fell into the exciting world of tech startups and developed her entrepreneurial skills.

But how to write books and start companies at the same time? Mary merged her two passions to create the Twin Sisters Livingston brand of stories and Living Lantern Media Group, a company devoted to entertaining, educating, and inspiring girls all over the world through smart, safe, sophisticated media. She lives in Georgia with her two kiddos and a couple of rascally cats.

To learn more about upcoming Twin Sisters Livingston releases, appearances, social media, and contests, visit:


Author's Giveaway
2 winners will win a finished copy of TWIN SISTERS LIVINGSTON AND THE MYSTERY AT MADAME MOLINEAUX'S, US Only.
2 winners will win an eBook of TWIN SISTERS LIVINGSTON AND THE MYSTERY AT MADAME MOLINEAUX'S, International.

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