Stance, 18, lives in Ghent in 1808. She’s always looking for experiences more interesting than what her fate as a woman seems to hold. Her brother Pier, 14, who wants to be a scholar, is dismayed by his older sister’s boldness and defiance. Pier is even more dismayed when his father can’t afford to pay his school fees. After wealthy Lieven agrees to finance their father’s new cannon design in exchange for Stance’s hand in marriage, Stance is resigned to her fate only so long; inspired by a young woman she saw moving through the world as a man, she eventually escapes into Napoleon’s army. A story alternating between Stance’s and Pier’s perspectives follows Stance’s life as a soldier—everyone assumes she’s a man—and Pier’s journey with Lieven’s shady business associate, Dupin, to find her; they assume she’s among the women who follow the troops. Naïve, trusting Pier is determined to find his sister to secure his future at school and determined to prove himself to his father by delivering the cannon plans to Napoleon. Fierce, secretive Stance is learning what it means to be a comrade and to love a woman. But neither knows what it means to go to war. This rousing read blends humor, pathos, high adventure, and complex character development in a richly satisfying tale about siblings and family, the bonds among soldiers and brutality of war, and a young woman determined to live life on her own terms. (Age 13 and older)

A Junior Library Guild Selection



Eighteen-year-old Constance is not interested in marriage or in being a "young lady." But for a young woman coming of age in the early 1800s, that's just about all that's available to her. When her parents arrange her a marriage with a man more than twice her age, she's powerless to resist. Stance couldn't possibly find her newfound husband less appealing, but what can she do?



Here's what:



Four months into the marriage, she can slip out of their bed in the middle of the night, and she can put on his clothes. She can look in the mirror and like what she sees. She can sneak out of the house before dawn and visit the baker's scrawny son, who has just been drafted into the army, and offer to take his place. Vive l'Empereur!



Hot on Stance's tail all the while is her younger brother Pieter, determined to bring Stance back home to Ghent where she belongs. (The battlefield is no place for a young lady, after all.)



Ironhead, or, Once A Young Lady is the riotous and powerful story of a fierce renegade, and the silly men who try to bring her down.





P R A I S E



★ "Action-packed. Rich with detail. Rowdy and contemplative in turn, this celebration of historical gender nonconformity is as compelling as it is fun."

--Publishers Weekly (starred)



★ "Stance is a delightfully chaotic protagonist, who is (scandalously) free with her affection and kisses and whose easy charm gets her out of more than little trouble. Thrilling, often hilarious, and sometimes tear-jerking, this romp of a story is reminiscent of classic adventure tales."

--BCCB (starred)



★ "Propulsive storytelling. 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."

--Horn Book (starred)



"A perfect choice for fans of adventure tales with a prominent feminist streak."

--Booklist