Review by Booklist Review
In early nineteenth-century Ghent, Belgium, Constance always knew her options as a young woman were limited. Still, she never thought she'd be forced to marry at 18 and expected to be a quiet, obedient wife. Suffocating in her new life, she offers to take an old neighbor's conscription notice, adopting his identity when she joins the army. Though Constance loves the freedom and excitement of preparing for battle, there is one thing that threatens her newfound life: her younger brother Pier, a rule follower horrified by his sister's actions, who has been tasked by Constance's husband, as well as their parents, to track her down and bring her home. Ironhead is the latest story to take up the beloved historical-fiction trope of the girl who masquerades as a boy to gain the freedom she's always wanted. The fact that the novel is told from two perspectives, Constance's and her brother's, further underlines just how differently young men and women were treated at the time. A perfect choice for fans of adventure tales with a prominent feminist streak.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In 1808 Ghent, Constance "Stance" Hoste, 18, proves stubborn and unruly, much to the chagrin of her parents and pious brother Pier, 14. After being forced to marry much older Lieven, who in return promises to pay her inventor father's debts, Stance disguises herself as a man and takes an acquaintance's place in Napoleon's army. When Lieven sends Pier to find her, the siblings embark on separate paths of adventure and self-discovery that slowly intertwine. Told in Stance's and Pier's alternating viewpoints, van Rijckeghem's (A Sword in Her Hand) action-packed latest is rich with detail. Often crudely humorous, it also straightforwardly and respectfully portrays Stance's experiences, including physical and sexual abuse and senseless violence, alongside Pier's arc toward confidence. In a narrative that eschews modern gender terminology, the protagonist's fluid identity is impressively nuanced: Stance, who is attracted to women, both identifies as a woman and is most comfortable presenting male, experiencing both gender dysphoria and euphoria. Rowdy and contemplative in turn, this celebration of historical gender nonconformity is as compelling as it is fun. Characters cue as white. Ages 12--up. (Feb.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 10 Up--This is an intriguing, realistic view of the Napoleonic era through the eyes of two different characters, Constance and Pieter Hoste, siblings living in 1808 Belgium. Eighteen-year-old Constance, or Stance as she is known by her friends, hates the role society expects her to fulfill as a young woman, chiefly as a wife and mother. Her brother, Pieter, on the other hand, relishes his role as student and eldest son and resents Stance's efforts to have an unconventional life. The ever-growing international tensions associated with Napoleon's wars form a backdrop to circumstances that force Stance to marry a prominent local official who's more than double her age and Pieter to withdraw from school. When Stance grasps an opportunity to escape her marriage and join Napoleon's Fourteenth Regiment posing as a male soldier, the author does not flinch from depicting the aftermath of battle in all its unforgiving brutality. Pieter goes through an equally transformative experience as he travels through Europe in search of his sister and the Emperor Napoleon. The coming-of-age of both siblings during the wartime forms the heart of the book, with a subtext of gender and sexual fluidity. Some sexual scenes and battlefield depictions make this work suitable for mature high school readers. VERDICT Recommended for fans of Renée Ahdieh's Flame in the Mist and Nicki Pau Preto's Wings of Shadow.--Susan Catlett
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Review by Horn Book Review
In this smoothly translated historical-fiction romp set in 1808, lively, propulsive storytelling whirls us through the countryside of what is now Belgium, France, and Germany with Constance, one of Napoleon's more unusual soldiers. "Stance" has always been acerbic, rebellious, and capable. When her father marries her off to a middle-aged businessman, she sees only one way out: she puts on men's clothes and joins the army. Stance's defection from the marriage contract wreaks havoc on the family, especially on her hapless brother Pier, who, in the company of a corrupt customs officer, is sent to retrieve her. Van Rijckeghem evokes Napoleonic wartime chaos and the story's fractious characters with colorful lucidity, comedy, and drama. Stance and Pier alternate as narrators; the tale swings between the former's rash irreverence and boldness and the latter's timidity and physical ineptitude. Throughout the story -- with its hilarity and drastic eventfulness, its duels and battles, unexpected lovers, and lesson in how a girl can use a bellows to facilitate peeing while standing -- Stance and Pier mature and become more resolutely themselves. Though the book ends as Stance sets off in quest of the woman she loves, the real heart here is the affection that grows between two very different siblings. (c) Copyright 2023. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
In 1808, a teen from Ghent escapes into a new life. Eighteen-year-old Constance is miserable. The eldest child of a clog maker--turned--unsuccessful-inventor, fiery Stance is desperate to escape an impoverished and restrictive home. But when Stance's father forces a marriage to Lieven, his 45-year-old potential business partner, life gets even worse. After 15 weeks of nightly rape by Lieven, who hopes to father a son, Stance dresses in men's clothes, borrows the identity of baker's son Binus, a conscripted acquaintance, and becomes a soldier in Napoleon's Fourteenth. Despite the grueling conditions, the freedom is intoxicating. But when younger brother Pier tracks Stance down in Paris on Lieven's behalf, Stance must face a duel. After surviving being shot in the head--and triumphantly adopting the nickname Ironhead, Stance continues to overcome the odds, ultimately finding liberation and independence beyond family or army. Ironhead also has a dalliance with a woman and ultimately becomes an amputee with significant PTSD. First-person chapters switch between sardonic Ironhead and naïve Pier, who struggles with his dysfunctional family and being unable to attend school, and the siblings' narratives become increasingly compelling as their stories intertwine. Vivid language in this novel translated from the Dutch doesn't shy away from the grime of everyday life or the graphic violence of war, and the descriptions of wartime medical procedures are not for the faint of heart. Vivid and brutal--but not without a sliver of hope. (glossary) (Historical fiction. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
