Ironhead, or, Once a Young Lady
by Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem, translated by Kristen Gehrman
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.
Type: Young Adult Novel
Pages: 432
Format: Hardcover
Publication: February 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-164614-048-0
PRAISE
A Junior Library Guild Selection
★ “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…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.”
—Horn Book (starred)
“A perfect choice for fans of adventure tales with a prominent feminist streak.”
—Booklist
“Rollicking adventure reigns in this fast-paced, humor-filled novel set during the Napoleonic Wars. A novel so vivid that one can easily imagine it being adapted as a period-piece movie or streaming series in the future.”
—School Library Connection
“Vivid and brutal—but not without a sliver of hope.”
—Kirkus
“I absolutely loved it! I couldn't put it down. The story, the characters, and everything about it was so good! I am really excited to have a YA book that I can easily recommend, and that can appeal to many different kinds of readers.”
—Laure Colodner, Odyssey Books
About Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem
Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem is a Belgian writer and producer. He has a master’s degree in languages. He has written or co-written screenplays for fifteen feature films in Flanders and the Netherlands including Cannes Critics’ Week screenplay award winner Moscow, Belgium (2008). Jean-Claude is the co-author of several critically acclaimed and widely translated Young Adult novels, including Galgenmeid and A Sword in Her Hand.
about kristen gehrman
Originally from Charleston, SC, Kristen Gehrman earned her Master’s in Language Science with a specialization in Literary Translation from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. She now lives in The Hague, The Netherlands, where she works as a literary translator and teaches university-level courses in creative translation.
