Book Review
The Unicorn Girl By MELISSA LeGETTE
Reviewed by PEGGY BARNETT
Washington-Wilkes has a talented young writer in its midst. Melissa LeGette has published a novel that is absorbing reading.

Leah is a young woman caught in a rather medieval setting. There is a monarchy, and her family is noble. Her mother died when she was two years old, and she is an only child. She and her father are close, but she is plagued by Miss Perish, her "wonderfully dreadful governess." (The reader gets as impatient with Miss Perish as Leah does.)

However, everyone else in the household is fond of Leah. Her happiness is enhanced when her father gives her a horse (over Miss Perish's objections), and riding gives her relief from dancing and deportment lessons.

In addition to Miss Perish, other obnoxious people in her world are her aunt and cousin. Cousin Lydia is perfect, of course, lovely and beautifully behaved, though mean as the proverbial snake. Those two cannot compete in villainy with Sir William, who will cause Leah untold trouble, to say nothing of the prince and the king.

The Unicorn Girl is a fantasy, and we soon meet witches, both good and bad. Later Leah is captured by elves and threatened by vors and crags, even a dragon. Every good fantasy has a journey. Leah, her horse Iris, and a young man she meets along the way must findand warn the unicorns before the king captures them. Unicorn horns are needed to release the evil witch Mora from the spell she has been under.

Leah doesn't know why she is the one who must undertake this mission. She has heard mysterious voices, and her appearance has changed after an equally mysterious illness. The suspense builds as she searches without knowing where to go, while being pursued by knights and monsters.

LeGette injects touches of humor into her story. Of Miss Perish, Leah says that she "bore a striking resemblance to a tall bird of prey, one who'd had a run-in with a jar of face powder." Later the good witch Lavena questions Leah: "'Yes, tell me about this Ian fellow,' Lavena said archly with a crooked smile.

'We're friends, Lavena.'

'That's what they all say, dear.'"

While following the pattern of a traditional fantasy, LeGette shows a wonderful imagination, twisting the story to create believable characters and persuading the reader to suspend disbelief. We can look forward to more work by this young author.

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